The power of Fear
by Meercatwhisperer112
Summary: Pitch isn't as stupid as he seems. The guardians are gullible, and even the Man in the Moon wasn't that hard to trick. Yes, he is intent of bringing terror and unhappiness, but not to children. And now that phase one of his plan is complete, he can bring about the much more subtle schemes into play. Jack Frost had better watch out.
1. Pitch's Plan

Pitch could barely suppress his glee as he shot out the tunnel and into his palace. Leaping to his feet, he didn't pay the golden lights a second glance as he hurried to his office. On the wall was a looking glass, which could show him anywhere in the non-magical world. Reaching a grey, skeletal finger out, he caressed the surface.

"Jack Frost," he murmured, and ripples spread outwards from the point of contact. There stood Jack Frost, his white hair flopping down over his ice blue eyes. He was saying something to a child, and Pitch had never seen the newest guardian look so happy. Pitch laughed again.

They had fallen for it! Oh, the fools, they had bought it entirely! Even the man in the moon had believed his little trick. He pulled out a baby tooth fairy, one of a few that he'd kept extra hidden, and tied a cord about its stomach, laughing as it tried desperately to escape. He gave the cord a sharp yank, and the baby tooth flew into the wall. It immediately got up and tried again, but it had barely taken off before Pitch swung it into the floor. He turned back to the glass, still absently playing with the cord. A dark little smile was dancing around his lips.

Children! As if he still cared about them. All children would stop believing eventually; that or they would die first. What use was there in bothering with children? He wasn't like those other pathetic guardians. He didn't need children to believe in him for him to have his powers. He was stronger than them, even if they thought otherwise.

Jack Frost, though. Jack Frost was different. No one had ever believed in him. Even now, there were only a handful of children in some god-forsaken American town that could even see him. Yet he was strong. When Pitch had let Jack defeat him that first time, it had almost been real defeat. It wasn't, but it came close. Jack Frost didn't need children.

So why, then, was he still obsessed with them? Determined to be a guardian? Pitch didn't know, but he did know Jack Frost's greatest fear, and oh was it a good one. A fear strong enough to break the toughest of men... what would happen, then, if it were to come true?

Pitch's smile widened.


	2. Not Forgotten

The sleigh gently touched down at the North Pole, and Jack leaped off gracefully. He watched as the others swung themselves out, chattering excitedly about what had happened.

"I prepare feast, yes?" boomed North. He snatched at one of the elves and held it up to eye level. "Tell kitchens to prepare feast! Big feast! For tonight!" He dropped the elf, which scurried off. "And don't eat the sugar!" he roared after it. The others laughed, and Tooth turned to the Easter Bunny.

"Were you here last time they got at the candy canes?" She asked. Sandy grinned, and laughing faces appeared above his head. The Easter Bunny shook his head, but Tooth dissolved into giggles and never actually got round to saying exactly _what _had happened last time the elves had got at the candy canes.

Jack's shoulders hunched forward as he watched their amicable conversation, an awkward smile frozen on his face. They seemed to have forgotten he was there, and he wasn't sure how to remind them.

"Do not remind me of that!" laughed North. "I almost had to cancel Christmas!"

"I think you told me about it; was this in the seventies?" asked the Easter Bunny. They nodded, and he howled with laughter.

"One of the reindeers told me the whole thing just last year! Oh man, that sounded hilarious. I wish I had been there!" Jack wondered if they were going to tell him about what had happened the last time the elves had gotten to the candy canes. It didn't seem so. He focused on tracing delicate frost shapes into the snow, gently guiding the staff where he wanted it to go. Tooth began to tell them about how a cat had managed to get into her palace just a few months ago, and what had happened with the fairies. She was just reaching the punch line when a sharp gust of winter air swirled in around them.

"Now, come in; is too cold out here," declared North. The others walked towards the door, but Jack lingered, unsure whether he was included in the invite. The door swung shut behind them, and he sighed, turning away sadly.

"Hey, Frosty?" The door was open again, and the Easter Bunny's head poked through. "Are you coming?" A smile spread across Jack's face, and he dashed forward.


	3. What happens next

Jack had barely said a word all meal. He was content just to be there, surrounded by the happy voices of people who could actually see him. He tried to suppress the grin that was threatening to spread across his face: he still had some dignity, and didn't want the others realising how much this meant to him.

They were at a round table, piled high with now empty dishes. North had eaten more than half the food himself, and the others had also had liberal servings, but Jack had barely touched his. He hadn't eaten in 300 years, and the sensation felt strange. He had managed just a few mouthfuls of turkey before pushing the dish away.

Little by little the candles melted down, and the conversation began to die away, until they were sitting in comfortable silence. The other guardians were calm, content with their meal and the outcome of the battle. Through one of the doorways they could see the globe, brilliantly lit up with millions of gold dots that shone in the dim light. Jack decided to ask the question that had been bugging him almost since they arrived.

"So... what happens now?" He asked cautiously. The others turned to him, puzzled.

"What do you mean 'What happens now?'" asked Tooth with a nervous giggle. Jack shifted uncomfortably, not used to having so many people pay him attention.

"Well... what do guardians do when Pitch isn't around? Do I need to go make myself an ice palace or something? Will I have specific jobs, specific responsibilities? What do I do?" His voice had slowly gotten quieter as he spoke, and they realised now that he wasn't as confident as he appeared.

"No ice palace," said North slowly. "Not yet. You will stay with me for now. I'll give you room, on top floor, nice and cold."

"Don't you have any responsibilities?" Bunny looked incredulous, shocked at the thought. Jack shrugged and shook his head.

"If I do, then no one ever told me about them. I mean, I can bring snow storms or blizzards and all that-"

"We know," growled the rabbit darkly, but Jack pretended to ignore him,

"-but those things happen naturally by themselves. I've just sort of been hanging around..." There was a note of sadness in his voice that the other guardians did not fail to pick up on.

"We will find you job," decided North in his booming voice. "But not now. Now we sleep, and we recover, and we thank moon for our newest guardian." They smiled at Jack, who ducked his head in embarrassment. "Phil!" One of the yetis shuffled forward, eyeing Jack wearily. A flash of a grin stole across Jack's face, and he wiggled his fingers mischievously at the yeti, whose fur bristled in return. "Take Jack to Winter room," North continued obliviously. The yeti growled, but beckoned Jack to follow him. Jack pushed himself to his feet, still chuckling gently to himself, and followed the yeti out the room.


	4. Fair-weather friends

The lonely cries of ghost bells swept gently through the dark garden, while poison ivy inched its way slowly across the floor. Midnight blue forgottens drooped their heads sadly and brambles lay themselves across the oaths, ready to rip at any wayward travellers.

Pitch hated his garden: it was possibly the most depressing thing in his palace, and that was definitely saying something.

"Get off me!" He hissed, kicking at the poison oak that was wrapping itself around his leg. "Get off, you stupid PLANT!" On the final word, he pulled out a dagger and severed its stem. It screamed loudly, and fell limply to the ground. Pitch stepped distastefully over the fast shrivelling corpse, and continued to the farthest corner of the garden.

Little whispers of discontent and anxiety rose up from the flowerbeds. Niggles of uncertainty wriggled up the stem, and the whole place stank of paranoia. Pitch curled his upper lip distastefully, and peered down at the little plants. The charcoal black flower heads swayed nervously, and the deadened leaves flapped in panic. He smiled as he ripped them from the ground, laughing as they screamed in horror and in pain. He had sown the seeds of doubt, and they had blossomed wonderfully. Stuffing them into his sac, he hummed a funeral dirge as he hurried back into his office.

Littered about the room were bottles filled with strange ointments and powders. Dried herbs were hung from the ceiling, and a mammoth tusk arced across the floor. A large copper cauldron simmered gently in the middle of the room. Pitch consulted an old recipe book he had written when he went through a phase of dabbling with alchemy.

"Where am I, where am I?" he murmured as he scanned the page. "Rattle snake poison, weeping willow sap, ah! Here we go: allow to simmer for thirteen hours, then stir in the seeds of doubt." He tipped the sac, and the flowers rained down into the potion, turning it the cloudy red of bloody water. "Add salts of mistrust, tears of betrayal and an ounce of fear. Stir anticlockwise four times with a perforated pentagram, and _voila!_" He beamed down at the cauldron, thrills of excitement rippling through him. "The draft of the fair-weather friend." He snatched one of the baby teeth fairies out of the cage he had locked them in, and shoved her into the brew. She surfaced, gasping for air, and Pitch locked her back in the cage, watching eagerly.

At first, it seemed like nothing it had happened. The other fairies crowded round her, checking she was okay, stroking her head comfortingly. But suddenly she leapt back, gazing at them in panic. She started to scream at them in her tiny, high pitched voice. They stared in horror, their eyes full of hurt, and Pitch's smile widened.

"All it needs is one last thing," he murmured silkily, pulling a snow white hair out of his pocket and dropping it into the poisonous philtre. The fairies watched in fear as Pitch began to laugh.


	5. Jobs for Jack

Tooth opened her mouth to speak, but North held his hand up until the yetis footsteps had faded from hearing.

"Yes?" he asked the fairy.

"He seems nervous. Like, really nervous. I think he's afraid we're going to start ignoring him again. We need to help him realise he's a guardian."

"He needs a job," said Bunny. "In fact, he needs multiple jobs. Something that will keep him busy, and out of our hair." Sandy nodded in agreement, and a floating palace appeared in the sand above him. North shook his head.

"No. No palaces. He cannot have palace yet," stated North, eyeing anyone as though daring them to challenge him upon it.

"Why not?" Asked Tooth as a little question mark appeared above Sandy's head.

"To have palace, you need believers. Without believers... palace crumbles. You saw what happened when children stopped believing in Tooth. Six children is not enough. Jack cannot have palace."

"Can he have jobs?" asked Bunny. "Because if so, we need to think of something." They sat in silence for a long while, each of them turning ideas over in their heads. Eventually Bunny sighed. "Winter spirits aren't very useful, are they? They can do a lot of fun stuff, but nothing important."

"We'll think of something," said Tooth hopefully. "We're just tired from the fight. Once we get to know Jack better, then we'll be able to give him jobs. Until then, he can help us out." Bunnymund leapt up in horror.

"No way. No way is that little imp getting close to my eggs. That is not happening."

"Bunny..." Tooth looked at him pleadingly. He hesitated, but shook his head.

"Maybe one day, but not now. Definitely not."

"He can help reindeers practice with flying through blizzards," said North, smiling at his own idea.

"If he wants, he can help us fairies sort out the teeth: they were all sort of just shoved back in, higgledy piggledy," said Tooth, biting her lip as she remembered how much work there was to do. Sandy excitedly showed them his idea, and they nodded like they understood.

"Bunny?" asked North. "Do you have any ideas?"

"If he wants, he can send a _light_ snow every other Easter to help the eggs hide," muttered the Pooka grudgingly. North clapped his great hands, beaming.

"Very well! Is settled! Now, all home to sleep, everything else can be worked out in time!"


	6. Insecurities and Promises

Phil watched him suspiciously as they walked together.

"Don't look at me like that," laughed the winter spirit, "I'm allowed here: I'm a guardian." He loved the way those words felt in his mouth. "A guardian," he murmured again, more to himself. The yeti growled, clearly unhappy with the turn of events, and opened a door for Jack, who peered inside.

It wasn't called the Winter room for nothing; the walls were ice blue, the furniture snow white, and the ceiling had hundreds of snowflakes, each with a different pattern, carefully painted on. With a grunt, Phil left, and Jack closed the door behind him, his happy smile sliding from his face. He slowly limped over to the bed, and winced as he saw the purple bruises blossoming across his skin. That was definitely going to hurt in the morning.

The last time he had seen the guardians, they had given up on him. He had failed them, and Easter had been ruined. They may have just defeated Pitch, but Jack still felt awkward, out of place. He had been around for 300 years, and they had spent the entire time either ignoring him or hating him. Now he was afraid; afraid of doing or saying something wrong, something that would make them leave him again. He could not stand to be alone again.

He crawled in between the sheets; they were soft and cool, soothing his aching body. Snow gently drifted in through the open window, and the North wind whispered to him from outside, reassuring him. _It'll be alright_ the wind whispered _you'll be okay. You're not going to be alone again_.

Jack curled up, his mind racing. He had to learn how to talk to people again, how to get on with them. He'd had a family once. Now, with all his heart, he hoped that he would have one again.

_I will work hard_ he promised himself, _and I will not cause trouble._

He laughed softly as he realised just how difficult that would be.

* * *

_Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who has favourited and followed so far, this is my firsr ever fanfiction so I really hope you like it! And if you're feeling really kind, and particularly generous, perhaps you could even review? Tell me anything you liked, didn't like, or anything you want to happen, as I'm hoping to have small story arcs in this as well as the main plot. Thanks again for reading!  
_


	7. Sugar high elves

"Where is he?!" roared Bunny as he stormed into the workshop. "I'm going to murder that no good little ice head!"

It had been six weeks since Pitch's defeat, and in that time Jack had stuck good to his promises, helping the fairies sort out the teeth and giving the reindeer difficult flying practice. However, although his bonds with them had all grown, his relationship with the Pooka had remained rocky, and an argument the day before had only served to exacerbate the problem.

"Bunny?" asked North. "What is problem?" Bunnymund rounded on the old man, eyes blazing in fury.

"I'll tell you what's wrong: Frosty has only gone and filled my warren with elves!" North snorted derisively.

"No big deal. Elves stupid, not evil. Send back here and will be fine."

"He gave them sugar!" shouted Bunny in frustration. North froze.

"Oh no," he murmured.

The warren was in a complete state when they arrived. Hyperactive elves darted here, there and everywhere, chasing herds of panicked eggs up the tunnels. Large bites seemed to have been taken from the trees, and before their eyes two eggs golems crashed into each other as they desperately tried to catch the elves.

North felt a cool breeze run through the tunnels, and he thought he heard a soft snicker. Jack was still there, and Bunny seemed to have picked up on that too.

"Get out here, you popsicle, and clean up this mess!" They heard a laugh, and the Pooka howled in frustration and anger. He leapt towards the corner where the laugh had come from, but was hit in the face by a massive snowball flying from the opposite corner.

"Jack!" called North as Bunny hit the ground and pulled out his boomerangs. "You have had your fun. Now help Bunny clear up." A head popped up from one of the bushes, two icy blue eyes gleaming mischievously, and Jack laughed again as several of the elves fell into the river of dye.

"Why you little-" cried Bunny, and he leapt towards the ice spirit, who darted away with his inhuman grace.

"What's the matter? Stumped by a couple of elves?" He flew up onto one of the ledges, grinning broadly. North looked at him pleadingly, and as he stood there one of the trees toppled as several elves ran straight through it. He sighed, and picked up his staff. Leaping down, he shot jets after jet of frost until all the elves were stolen. "Happy?"

"Not in any way, snowflake. You better watch it, 'cause I'll get you for this one." North threw one of the snow globes and opened a portal back to the workshop.

"Jack!" he called, "help me carry elves." They disappeared, and Bunnymund looked around at the mess they had left behind.

"Bloody wombat," he muttered, already planning his revenge.

* * *

It was about a week later that Joke woke up to find his floor covered with rotten eggs. Any mortal would have to crack at least twenty just to reach the door, but Jack just laughed.

"Nice try, cottontail!" he called to no one in particular. "Did you forget I can fly?" he floated up off his bed. "Disappointing," he muttered to himself, drifting across the room. "And here I thought I would actually need to watch out." He was so busy being disappointed that he didn't notice the trip wire until he flew into it.

A large bucket of pink dye swung down from the ceiling, drenching him from head to toe. He fell from the air in shock, and landed face down on a dozen eggs, cracking them. The stench was appalling, and he rolled away in disgust, breaking yet more eggs as he did so. The door swung open.

"Hello, mate." Bunny was grinning widely. Jack's normally white hair was neon pink, as was his hoodie and his skin. Bunny laughed as the spirit sputtered, trying to think of something to say. "What were you saying about disappointing?" Jack wiped the pink gunk out of his eyes, and a small smile flitted across his lips. He stretched out a thin hand.

"Okay, you got me: truce?" Bunny stretched out his hand, and Jack leapt away, flying back into the air. "Not a chance! I'll get you for this, Bunnymund!" he called, and shot out the window with a gleeful whoop. Bunny laughed at the sight: the boy looked like cupid! Then he turned and shut the door. The smell really was disgusting.

* * *

_Thank you to everyone who has reviewed, and to all you lovely people for following me! If you're wondering why I'm churning out chapters at such a ridiculous rate, well, I only have 3 weeks of Easter holiday and then it's back to a twelve hour school day (boarding schools, hey! What can you do?), so I'll only be able to do about one chapter a week when that happens :(_


	8. Aestive

Jack lazily skated around the lake, his face a picture of tranquillity. It was nearing May, and even up here, in the northernmost point of Norway, the air was getting warmer. This would probably be his last chance to skate in the northern hemisphere until September at least, and countries in the southern hemisphere just didn't have as extreme cold. Not to mention all those summer spirits...

"I don't believe it," drawled a voice as something grabbed him by the neck, flinging him into a bush. Think of the devil and all that jazz. "I. Don't. Believe it." Before Jack had a chance to recover, his staff was wrenched from his grip.

Standing before him was Aestive, one of the lesser summer spirits. About 22, with warmly tanned skin and forest green eyes, he was one of Jack's least favourite people, second only to Pitch.

"What do you want?" spat Jack, leaping to his feet. Aestive might have been clutching his powers, but he could not take away the winter spirit's grace.

"Is he stupid? Did you bribe him?" Aestive glared at Jack with loathing. Jack's expression of contempt suggested the feeling was mutual.

"What are you talking about?"

"**Why** would the Man in the Moon make **you** a guardian? YOU! Of all people! Everyone knows winter spirits can't be trusted. You lot are worse than Pitch!" Aestive's voice dropped. "You _kill _people."

Jack wasn't quite able to hide the pain those words brought, because it was true. People died in storms, because of car crashes, of hypothermia, all sorts of things. He had found bodies before, buried in the snow after his some of his more severe storms.

"Oh, yeah!" he hissed, squashing down his emotions. "You're just bitter because the Man in the Moon chose me over you! How does it feel, having a winter spirit chosen over you? If I'm so bad, what does that make you?!" His voice had risen to a shout, and with a roar Aestive shot a ball of fire at him. He dodged it nimbly, and lunged for his staff, which Aestive held out of reach.

"How does it feel to be a murder?" he grunted, punching Jack as hard as he could with a flaming fist. Jack flew backwards, hitting a tree with a loud groan. "You. Killed. People." He yelled, accenting each word with a fireball. In his anger he didn't notice that he had dropped the staff.

Jack howled in agony as each of them hit its mark, but leapt to his feet.

"What about heat stroke?" he shouted. "Whose fault is that? You've killed people too!"

"You don't see me parading around as guardian, do you?" A whip of flame curled across Jack's back. "I'm not claiming to be a defender of the children! Tell me, Jackie boy, how many children have you killed?" The flame whip swung again and again. "How many innocent lives are on your hands?" Jack grabbed the whip, and gave it a hard yank, ignoring the pain that was searing through his hand.

"How many are on yours?" he whispered, drawing back his fist and punching Aestive in the mouth. Several teeth went flying. Before the summer spirit had a chance to react, Jack grabbed his staff and shot into the air.

* * *

"North?!" Tooth shot into the workshop followed by a half dozen fairies. She darted around in panic, desperately looking for the great Russian man.

"Tooth?" Bunnymund was relaxing on one of the sofas in a nearby room. He was ahead of schedule with the next batch of Easter eggs, and had decided to come around for a chat. "What's the matter?" Tooth held out her hand: in it were three teeth. Bunny stared at them for a long moment. "I don't speak teeth, what's special about them?" He asked finally.

"They belong to a summer spirit," Tooth said desperately, zipping around the room in distress, "a summer spirit who lost them in a fight with Jack."

"With Jack?" asked the Pooka, sitting up. Tooth nodded, and resumed her frantic flying. "Is this spirit okay?" Tooth stopped, and her fists clenched.

"He's fine." It almost sounded like a growl, "Or, at least, he was. He started laughing about what he'd done to Jack, so I may have..." Bunny wasn't sure which question he was more afraid to ask.

"What did he do to Jack?" he slowly got up. "And what did you do to him?" Tooth giggled nervously, looking at Bunny like she was afraid of reprimand.

"He wouldn't tell me. All I could get out of him was that he had used fire. So I may have smashed his head into the ground a... few... times. A few dozen times." Bunnymund began to laugh.

"You're like Sandy; innocent to look at, but not to be messed with! So where's Jack now?"

"I don't know!" cried Tooth, and the smile slid off his face. "This was nearly a day ago, but I only just found out! That's why I'm looking for North, because-"

"You are looking for me?" boomed a voice from the doorway, followed by a concerned looking Sandy. "Yetis tell me you are panicking, almost break workshop, what happened?" Tooth quickly relayed her tale, and North frowned.

"We have to find Jack," said Bunny, leaping from his chair. "I can check Lapland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway if Tooth takes-"

"I know where he is," murmured North.

* * *

_For anyone wondering, 'Aestive' is Latin for summer. In my head, summef spirits and winter spirits don't get on, and while they can be cordial, most encounters don't end well.  
_

_I've surpassed 500 views! I feel like I'm internet famous (don't worry, I know I'm not). Anything you like, or don't like? Anything you want to happen? Tell me in a review! No, seriously, I get like extreme excitement panic attacks from reviews. They're sooooo exciting._


	9. Jack's wounds

Pitch chuckled to himself, enjoying the Frost boy's beating on his looking glass. His fear was tangible, even across this distance, and it was _delicious_. Everyone's fear was different, but the fear of a guardian particularly so. Bunnymund's was sweet, almost sickening, while North's was strongly alcoholic. Tooth's was, understandably, minty, and the sandman- well, he had never actually know the sandman to feel fear. Even in his final moments before defeat, there was nothing but determined resolve.

But Jack Frost... Jack Frost was on a whole other plane entirely. His fear was cool, crisp and utterly rapturous. Pitch could bask in it all day- in fact, he was planning to.

* * *

They found him face down in the soil next to his lake, groaning in pain. His skin was flushed, his eyes cloudy, and burn marks covered large parts of his skin. Tooth gasped at the sight, and Bunny felt like his insides were being crushed. North gently scooped him up, but the boy whimpered in pain.

"Ah'm gonna kill that little summery freak of... When Ah'm done with him, he'll... He'd better watch out, that's all," growled Bunny, fury welling up inside him.

"We must get him back to castle, back to cold. Here is too hot for him," decided North. With three taps of his foot, Bunny opened a tunnel for them and they shot through, catching a quick glimpse of the warren. The last time Jack had been there was when he had let the elves loose. "PHIL!" roared the Russian as they arrived in the workshop. Phil ran up quickly, but froze in horror when he caught sight of Jack. "Fetch medical yetis. Tell them it is emergency!" Phil nodded, and sprinted away, while North hurried the boy up to his bedroom.

Jack stirred feebly as he was laid onto the bed. He gazed up at them, and for a split second his eyes focused. He murmured something through cracked lips. It was barely audible, and the other guardians leaned forward, trying to understand.

"Too many," he whispered. "Too many." He started to struggle, and repeated it again, stronger this time.

"He's delirious," said Tooth, "he doesn't know what he's saying. Sandy! Help!" An arm of golden sand curled around the thrashing figure, and Jack stilled again. Golden snowflakes began to fall from the air above him, and they relaxed.

At that moment, the Medi-Yetis arrived, and they told them on no uncertain terms (in yetish) to either hush up or leave immediately. One opened a green first aid kit, while a second focused on packing snow around Jack's body. He whimpered in pain, and the snowflakes vanished. The first yeti pulled out anti-burn cream, and began to gently rub it onto the scorch marks on his arm and face, and the second yeti turned back to the guardians.

"He says Jack is too hot, but we are lucky: he could be worse." North translated. The yeti nodded, and Tooth fluttered down next to the bed.

"Thank the Man in the Moon," she whispered tears bunching in her eyes. Jack whimpered again, and curled in on himself. As he did, the back of his hoodie slipped up slightly. Tooth gently slid it up further, and they all froze in horror.

His normally pale skin was enveloped by an angry red burn, puckering and contouring at random intervals. In places his skin had cracked open, and these cracks had either scabbed over or were still softly dripping blood. Small black dots of infection had already appeared, and the inside of his hoodie was stained a dark crimson.

The medi-yetis kicked them out. They had never seen wounds this badly, and they needed to treat it in total silence. North took to pacing outside the door, while the others sat by the fireplace the next room over. Every now and then a piercing scream would echo from the Winter room, making the guardians wince. After about three hours, a medi-yeti appeared.

"How is he?" whispered Tooth, darting over. He replied something in yetish, and they turned to North for a translation. The Russian sighed.

"He is in bad shape. They may have to cauterize the wounds, to stop infection."

"What does that mean?" asked Bunny, hopping over anxiously. North sighed.

"It means," he tried, and his voice broke. "It means they will have to burn him again." Another scream reverberated past them, making them flinch. A little watch appeared above Sandy's head, next to a question mark. "Hours," replied North, "maybe an entire day. They do not know for sure, but they've never had to deal with something as serious as this before."

The medi-yeti went inside the room, and North resumed his pacing, but Bunnymund could not sit back down.

"Sandy," he whispered to the smallest guardian. "I think we owe a visit to a certain summer spirit." Sandy's face set, and he nodded. Silently, Bunny opened a tunnel, and the two leaped down. Tooth noticed, and followed them quickly before it could close up.

"He lives in Brazil," she whispered to the other two.

* * *

Pitch was back in front of his looking glass, beaming like a child on Christmas. Who would have thought the defenders of children's innocent hopes and dreams could get so violent? The summer spirit's fear seemed to permeate the air as the three of them closed in on him, and Pitch laughed gleefully.

Though he would have to watch out. When his plan was complete, and the Frost boy's spirit had been crushed in its entirety, as well as the rest of the Guardians' morale and sense of self worth, then he might have to fortify his lair. He winced as the spirit got a particularly nasty kick to the stomach from Bunnymund, and basked in the warm fear the fool emitted. Yes, fortifying his lair would definitely be a good idea.

* * *

_As you can probably tell, I'm awful at Australian accents, so you're going to have to superimpose your own over my feeble attempts. This chapter was harder to write than usual, so I'm sorry for the delay.  
_

_If you have any time free (which I'm guessing you do, seeing as you're reading fanfiction!), then just hit that little review button and type me a short note on what you thought of it. Being wonderful, smart people like you are, it should only take a second :)_


	10. Nightmare Sand and Evil Brews

Once again the large copper cauldron was simmering in the centre of Pitch's office. The poisonous brew belched out thick black clouds of noxious gas, and the fairies huddled in their cage in the corner, desperately trying to breathe.

"Hello, my pretties!" grinned Pitch, materializing out of the shadows. They clung to each other desperately. "I'm sure you want to go home; I can organize that for you." They didn't trust him, he could see that, but one of them broke away from the rest and began to hurl what he could only guess was abuse. "Thank you for volunteering," he purred, and snatched her out of the cage.

The tiny little fairy struggled desperately, but Pitch just laughed as he shoved her into the cauldron. For a second, nothing happened. Then the potion began to boil, and a high pitched screaming could be heard from within. Baby tooth fairy fear wasn't usually very satisfying, but this one was _terrified_. After about a minute, she shot out again, and Pitch clapped his hands in delight.

The fairy's wings were varying shades of grey, her once iridescent wings were black and ragged, and her large eyes were a bleak and hopeless blue. She was no longer scared. She was excited. She had a new master, a _better_ master. She turned to Pitch, who was corking a vial of the black tar.

"Slip this into one of the yetis' drinks," he ordered her. "Preferably Phil. And then give him this," he handed her a small bag of stealth nightmare sand, "to give to Jack. Understand?" The dark fairy nodded, and whizzed out the window. Pitch smiled a sinister smile, and turned to the other fairies.

"Your turn," he whispered.

* * *

It was three days before the guardians were allowed in to see Jack: the yetis had been very clear on that point. In those three days the guardians did not leave Santoff Clausen, except for that one excursion to find the summer spirit. Finally, one of the yetis opened the door.

They quickly hurried in, careful not to make a sound. Jack was sleeping quietly, and he certainly looked much better. There was just a slight tinge of pink on his cheeks, and most of the burns had gone from his arms and face. His upper body was tightly wrapped in bandages, but the medi-yetis reassured them that he was healing quickly. His ice blue eyes blinked open, and he mustered a weak smile for the people he was starting to feel were his family.

"Jack," murmured North. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," he muttered trying to sit up. "You should have seen the other guy." Tooth, Bunny and Sandy froze, and shot each other guilty glances. Jack hadn't done anything to Aestive apart from knocking his teeth out, but now...

"How did you find me?" he asked, snapping them back to the present. "How did you know to look?" Tooth flitted forward.

"I found Aestive's teeth, and he told me what happened. North knew you would be down by the lake, so we grabbed you and brought you back up here."

"Thanks," he murmured, sinking back into the sheets. "I owe you one."

"You don't owe us anything," said Bunny softly, but Jack was already asleep again. One of the medi-yetis hurried up and garbled something in yetish.

"He says Jack must rest now. We come back tomorrow," North translated. They nodded and left, the medi-yetis right behind them.

* * *

That night, while everyone else slept, Phil crept up to the Winter room. His normally green eyes were as cold and grey as frozen steel, and in his hand he clutched the small bag of nightmare dust. He knew that if he was caught he would be in serious trouble, but he didn't care. Who needed North? Phil had a new master now.

He crept into Jack's room and shivered, despite his thick fur. Half a foot of snow blanketed everything, and yet more flakes were falling from the ceiling. Phil snuck over to the sleeping boy's bedside table, and began to unwrap one of the bandages.

He hadn't liked the boy before. All those attempts to break into the workshop amounted to one big headache for the yeti head of security. But he'd thought things might change once Jack became a guardian. He'd thought they might even begin to get along.

Phil was grateful to Pitch for showing him just how erroneous his hopes had been. For showing Phil that the Frost boy would never, could never be anything but a nuisance. The wound was deep, and though the medi-yetis had done all they could, it hadn't yet had time to heal. He slowly tipped the bag of nightmare sand into the cut, and watched with fascination as the bloodstream carried it off. Jack whimpered and curled up, a small pucker of anxiety appearing between his eyebrows. Phil had to restrain himself from laughing at the sight, and he tiptoed back out the room.

* * *

"_And then... wait for it, this is the best part! And then he thanked us! Like we had actually done it for him!" Tooth was surrounded by her fairies, all of whom were in hysterics. All the other guardians were there as well, chuckling to themselves at the memory of it._

"_Almost wish that little summer spirit had finished him off," said Bunnymund, hopping forward. "Hey, North; why did we have to save him again?"_

"_Because," said North, "we may hate it, but there must be winter. How else would people remember how much they love the summer?" A pouty face appeared above Sandy's head, surrounded by drifting golden flakes._

"_You said it, Sandy." Tooth flew forward. "It was bad enough when he was just doing his own thing by himself. Now the Man in the Moon has made him a guardian and we actually have to pretend we like the guy?!"_

"_Yeah," sighed Bunny. "It sucks."_

_Jack stood in the shadow of one of the columns, listening in horror. He was right. He'd been right all along. They didn't want him around: they hated him. Tears welled in his eyes, as he desperately looked round for his staff, wanting nothing more than to just leave, to fly away and pretend he hadn't heard this, pretend he didn't know, pretend he still had a family._

"_You know," continued Bunny, oblivious to Jack's presence, "I sometimes wish that Pitch had won, just so we wouldn't have to be around him._

Jack's screams echoed through the rooms.

* * *

_I'm sorry guys, I know this chapter is weird and choppy, but I couldn't seem to get it to work for me! I'd love some feedback as to how I could make it better._


	11. The Pookas

"Hey, North?" murmured Jack, limping over. It had been two weeks since his encounter with Aestive, but he still wasn't fully healed. Every night he was plagued with nightmares, never the same, but always the same, if that made any sense. He told himself to calm down- they were just dreams. He was a guardian now, and no one could change that.

"Yes, Jack?" North was sitting behind his mahogany desk, sketching out ideas for new toys. Christmas was still more than six months away, but the workshop was already in full swing. The old Russian wanted to make sure that nothing went wrong, especially after that year's disastrous Easter. But he always had time for Jack- he wasn't sure if the boy knew it, but there was screaming. Every night there was screaming.

"What happened to the other Pookas?" It was a question Jack had been wondering for years, ever since he first found out the Bunnymund was the last of his kind.

North sighed heavily: it was not a topic that was brought up often. In fact, he had only explained it once, several hundred years before, to a couple of obnoxious mountain spirits who threatened to ask Bunny himself if he didn't answer. It was not a pleasant topic, and he did not know how to begin.

"Most blame Pitch," he managed finally. "Bunny blames Pitch, spirits blame Pitch... and in a way, it was Pitch's fault. But not entirely... Not entirely."

"The Dark Ages were a bad time, Jack. You must be thankful you weren't there. Humans believed so much more easily, even the adults, but the only thing for them to believe in was fear. We could help children, show children wonder and joy and hope, but there was nothing we could do for the adults. Adults are too cynical, Jack. Even then."

"Pitch was at the height of his power, and everyone was afraid. Not everyone believed in him, but everybody believed in fear. It was everywhere. And all adults believed in Pookas. We do not know why, but they did. And because Pookas were strange, were different, they blamed them." Jack's stomach turned as he anticipated what would happen next.

"So they went after Pookas. Pookas are fast, but humans are smart. And when they want to, they can be evil. Worse than Pitch. Much worse. They laid out traps, they hunted, they killed, until not a single Pooka was left."

"But what about Bunny?" asked Jack in confusion. "He's still here." North's large brown eyes stared down at him sadly.

"You are guardian after you die. I am too. So is Bunnymund. I do not know how you die, you have not told me yet, but Bunnymund was trying to protect his brother. Man in Moon sees his sacrifice, his death, and brings him back. Makes him guardian. Gives him new family. But brother still died.

"That's awful." Jack didn't know what to say. He had never imagined something like this. Poor Bunny. It was no wonder no one ever talked about it.

"Fear makes people do evil things sometimes," North told their youngest guardian. "That is why we must fight it, as much as possible. Jack nodded up with a weak smile, and left.

He floated slowly up to his room, thinking about what had been said. So Bunny knew what it was like, then- knew what it was like to have no family. It must have been worse for Bunny, because his family were all killed; Jack just hadn't been able to remember his.

He and Bunnymund had something in common, though. They had both died to protect their siblings. It was a link only Jack knew about, because he had not yet told the other guardians how he had died. They hadn't asked, and he assumed they were doing it out of respect.

But Bunny had become a guardian. Bunny had had a new family. Jack had had no such thing. Jack had been alone for 300 years. Jack had only recently found out that he had ever had a family to begin with. Didn't everyone deserve a family? Bunny knew what it was like to have no family, however briefly that lasted. Why didn't he see that Jack had been in the same position?

_It's okay_ Jack told himself. _It's alright. Things are different now. They're different._

* * *

That night his nightmare was different. It was different in that it wasn't a nightmare, but a memory. A memory that made him feel cold in a way that his powers couldn't.

_It was Easter of '68, and snow covered the ground. Jack watched sadly as the few children brave enough to face the snow trailed back sadly, with only a few eggs between them. He hated himself for doing what he'd done, but if it meant that the Pooka would find him, actively seek him out and come talk to him... _

"_What's the meaning of this?" growled a voice behind him. There stood Bunnymund, madder than the winter spirit had ever seen him. He opened his mouth, ready to explain, use the excuse he'd come up with that would surely make the Pooka see-_

"_In fact, I don't want to know!" Bunny continued, not even giving Jack a chance. He hopped forward so that green eyes met blue. "Just because no one believes in you, doesn't mean you can ruin it for kids who believe in me. If you ever do something like this again, I will find you." He turned away._

"_Wait!" called Jack, "I can-"_

"_Go back to your lake, Frost!" Bunny looked at Jack with complete contempt. "Nobody wants you here."_

* * *

_omgomgomgomgomgomgomg 16 followers, 13 reviews and seven favourites! I love you people soooooooooooooooooooooo much, and thank you to EVERYONE who reviewed! I feel like the emperor of the internet! Pleasepleaseplease if you haven't reviewed, DO! Every time you review, Jack Frost gets a new believer!_


	12. Lies and Bullies

Pitch _hated _being virtuous. Virtuous people never stopped talking about how virtuous they were. They never stopped showing off to less virtuous people. And virtues themselves were sickening balls of uselessness. But patience was a virtue, and he had to be patient. Everything was all lined up; he just needed the boy's relationships to strengthen more. That, and for an opportunity to present itself.

* * *

"Hey, Baby Tooth!" called Jack as his favourite of the mini fairies whizzed up. "Come look! I've been planning what my palace will look like, when I have one. Here's my office, and here's-"

Baby Tooth looked in amazement at the model. It was incredibly detailed, made out of winking snow and the clearest ice she had ever seen. About three foot long and two feet wide, it was massively scaled down, but everything was still there, right down to tiny handles on the doors. As Baby Tooth examined it in fine detail, Jack continued to talk.

"I was thinking I could have it in the South Pole. Or maybe on the Canadian tundra! That's covered in permafrost, and it has polar bears! What if I had polar bears to guard my castle, like North has yetis? It's going to be so cool!" He flopped back down onto the snow, and sighed. "I just wish I knew why I'm not allowed to build it yet."

* * *

"Bunny?" called North, the man peeking into the warren. "Bunny, are you here?"

"What is it, mate?" asked Bunny, hopping forward with two eggs in one hand, a slab of chocolate in the other and a paintbrush behind his ear. "Is something wrong?"

"Oh no, nothing is wrong," said the great Russian, sitting on a rock and yawning tiredly. "I just wanted to come talk to a friend; is everything all right with you?"

"Yeah, everything's fine," replied the Pooka, who was desperately trying not to eat the chocolate. "You want to help me work on some new designs for the eggs?" North smiled widely.

"That sounds fun!" Bunny smiled back, and began to dart around, fetching paints. "Oh, that reminds me!" added North. "You remember that toy design you came up with? About twenty years ago?"

"The one that you called stupid and boring and said would never catch on? What about it?"

"Children love them! I have to make more and more every year, and all different colours! I changed the name, though."

"They liked them? Really?" Bunny's smile widened. "I told you they would. But what did you change the name to? Hipper-Hopper was a great name!"

"It was terrible name! I called them Slinkies! Because, you know, they slink! Down the stairs!" North began to paint as Bunnymund pulled out a chisel and chipped away at his large block of wood. For a while, there was silence. Suddenly Bunny looked up.

"Pitch doesn't have any believers. Not any more he doesn't." North looked bemused.

"I know this."

"Pitch still has a palace." North shifted uncomfortably, not meeting Bunny's gaze.

"Pitch had believers. He built his palace then, he would not be able to now."

"North-"

"I should get going, we only have five months till Christmas-"

"North!" He froze, and sighed heavily, sitting back down next to the Pooka. "Why can't Jack have a palace?"

"He could if he wanted to." It was barely above a whisper.

"Why did you lie to us then?"

"I do not want him to have palace." The Pooka stared at North in confusion. North wasn't selfish, he wasn't vindictive; Bunny had never known him to act like this.

"Why?"

"I like having Jack in palace with me. He is good company, and I like keeping an eye on him. What if Pitch comes back? I can be there to protect him."

"Jack can look after himself North. You can't force him to stay with you. And why didn't you just tell us this?" Tears wobbled in the great man's eyes, and he smiled weakly.

"I feel silly."

They carried on in silence. Eventually North finished the designs, but Bunny declared- with an air of disgust- that they were entirely too Christmassy, and that he was sorry, but he would never use them. North retaliated by eating the chocolate hen the Pooka had just carved out in one mouthful. They were both laughing as North took his leave, promising to see each other soon.

Neither of them noticed that one of the golems had turned a darker shade of grey.

* * *

Baby Tooth had curled up in one of the many hidden nooks of the palace, wanting nothing more than to be by herself. Her large eyes brimmed with tears as she thought about what the other fairies had said.

They all had names, of course they did, but she had two now. First was her fairy name, a name that Tooth had chosen for each one of them individually, and could only be spoken in the fairy tongue. But she also had another name, a name Jack Frost had given her when he nicknamed her Baby Tooth. It was a name that set her apart as an individual, different to the other fairies. Jack barely gave them any attention, but hung out with her whenever either of them had time to spare. North knew her name, as did Bunnymund and Sandy, and even Toothiana was paying her more attention.

But that wasn't what had started the problems. The other fairies could have lived with that, even if some of them were in love with Jack's magnificent molars. No, the problem was that the other guardians had started calling all fairies that weren't Tooth 'baby tooth fairies.' The other fairies didn't like being named after her. Not in the slightest.

There was no need for what they had said, though. And they had no right. The only person who could kick her out of the palace was Tooth, and she surely wouldn't. Tooth loved all her fairies too much to do that to one of them... even if all the others begged?

Baby tooth began to cry, large orbs of salt and water leaking from the corner of her eyes. What if she did have to leave? Where would she go? Even now, some of the more malicious fairies were prowling around the palace, looking for her, not having finished what they wanted to say.

Jack. She could go, and she could stay with Jack. And then she could talk to Tooth, and she could get the other guardians to stop calling all the fairies baby tooth fairies. And everything would be okay.

With Jack's help, everything would be okay.

* * *

_I know some of you are wondering where the main plot has got to, but I can't just reveal it all in one chunk! These things take time..._

_And thanks to everyone who has reviewed! I love you all, but the reviewers get extra love. Want some extra love? REVIEW!_


	13. Rogue fearlings

"Baby Tooth?" asked Jack, flying through the window. He had just been sending a blizzard through Russia, and there were still snowflakes in his hair and on his lashes.

The little fairy gazed up at him, blinking her violet eyes hopefully. In one corner of the room, she had set up her nest, a swirl of multicoloured blankets and soft feathers, with the tiniest little teddy bear Jack had ever seen sitting in the middle.

"You want to stay here? With me?" She nodded. The winter spirit hesitated for a moment, and Baby Tooth's heart dropped. He would let her stay, wouldn't her? Jack's face broke into a grin. "That would be great!" he exclaimed, and she whizzed around the room in delight. He smiled contentedly: that would be absolutely great.

* * *

Sandy floated lazily through the flakes. The howling winds and freezing temperatures had no effect on him, and he set to work giving the children of Russia the dreams they needed.

Jack had certainly been busy here; the storm had barely been going for an hour, and there was already three feet of snow blanketing the roads and rooftops. Sandy liked to see the work of all the other guardians, but there was something particularly beautiful about the glimmer of the snow and ice reflecting the glittering light of the stars.

Not saying there wasn't mischief in what Jack did: he had little tricks that he liked to play on the mortals, nothing vindictive, just for fun. He'd give most of the town a foot or so, and then cover the schools and the roads to the schools with an impenetrable wall of snow. He'd keep an ear out for human weather reports, and then strike in places that were expecting heat waves. These things had gotten him into trouble before, especially with the summer spirits- although nothing that warranted what Aestive had done to him.

As he was pondering this, a dark shape raced through an alley in front of him. Sandy snapped out of his reverie, and peered after it in concern. Had that been...? No, it couldn't be. Pitch had no believers, he had no power. More than that, he himself had been afraid. Surely he had no control over his fearlings?

The full impact of that his Sandy like a punch to the gut. No control. Granted, he couldn't use them to chase the guardians, but... nightmares, running around unbidden, with nothing to control them, or stop them from spreading their fear to any child they pleased. Pitch, at least, was restrained. The fearlings weren't.

And worse than that, they didn't have the same problems as Pitch and the guardians: they didn't have to worry about being believed in.

Everyone believed in fear. They may not believe in the bogeyman, but they believed in fear. Old and young, rich and poor- all could see the fearlings, monstrous beings created by _his_ sand. And Sandy wanted it back.

He flew down to the alley, his sand whips ready. It smelled awful, of fish and urine and decay. One of the bins rattled, and Sandy eyed it suspiciously. A scratching noise was emanating from it, a scratching noise that shivers up his spine. He braced himself-

A scrawny black cat leapt out with a startled hiss before taking off into the night. Sandy relaxed, laughing at his own silliness. It had just been a cat, nothing more. The fearlings were powerless without Pitch, and Pitch was in no state to control them. He began to float back up to the clouds, his work in Russia almost done.

That was when something grabbed him from behind.

* * *

Pitch was rather enjoying himself.

Yes, he was rather bored of having to be patient. The guardians were all immersed in their various holidays or whatever, giving him no chance to implement his plan, even now that everything was in place.

But, to his immense surprise, the bumbling yeti had succeeded in getting the nightmare sand into Jack's wounds. And the fear he emanated every night was incomparable. He wondered if this was how human drug addicts felt. The anticipation, growing, building, the thrill as it was first taken, and then the euphoria- Sometimes Pitch didn't care if he never spoke to anyone again, never left his lair again, never _did_ anything again as long as he could keep getting this rush.

But suddenly there was a bitter taste. Suddenly, the Frost boy's fear was tainted- tainted by another, the one creature whose fear disgusted him (besides himself of course): the fear of a fearling. Though it burned Pitch's very soul to do it, he turned his attention away from Jack, from the writhing, screaming winter spirit, and to the fearling.

He almost laughed: the stupid beast had gone after Sandy! Had it learnt nothing from its time under him? The sandman didn't _feel_ fear. Pitch didn't even know what his greatest fear was; he'd never been able to sense it, and wondered if the golden man even had one.

His expression hardened. This was going to cause some annoyances for him: Sandy would tell the other guardians about the fearling, and they'd all storm in demanding to know what was going on. He'd be able to explain that the fearlings had gone rogue, but there were still some... incriminating objects lying around, such as a recently erected cage in his front hall. That was something he most certainly didn't want the other guardians seeing... yet.

* * *

_Hello my lovelies! Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed, it means a lot._

_And Freya Priestly, if you're reading this then you should realise that your physical wellbeing is at stake._


	14. Pitch's Christmas

"Fearlings? Loose?!" Tooth didn't like the idea. She didn't like the idea one bit.

It had taken a while for the sandman to explain to them what had happened, but he had gotten through eventually.

"Are you all right?" asked North concernedly. Sandy nodded exasperatedly: it was the fifth time the question had been asked! Still, he appreciated the others' concern.

"Are we sure that Pitch isn't controlling them? This could just be a trick, you know! Another one of his plots!" North snorted.

"Pitch has no power left to plot! And Man in Moon would have told us if he did."

"I still think we should check," growled the Pooka. "I don't know what the Man in the Moon is, but you can be he's not infallible." Tooth fluttered down, an idea blossoming across her face.

"Maybe we should do a monthly thing! One of us heads on down to his lair, checks that he's not planning on destroying us while we sleep, and heads back. That why he won't have time to build anything up." She looked around expectantly, and they nodded agreement.

"I'll do it!" offered Jack. The others looked at him in confusion, and he continued. "I don't really have my own jobs yet, and I have my staff to protect me. Besides, his lair is near Burgess, and I can stop by and talk to Jamie while I'm there."

They turned to North, who seemed to be considering the proposal. Deep down, he was against it- he didn't want Jack anywhere near the Nightmare King, especially on his own- but he did have the staff to protect himself, and Pitch was very weak. Besides, it would do the child good to have a job. It wasn't that he wasn't useful, North just knew he didn't feel it. Perhaps this would help to alleviate that.

Pitch had hidden the cage. He'd hidden the cauldron, and the vials. The few fearlings that remained had been banished from the lair. His looking glass was covered by a large renaissance painting of a man being tortured. The lair seemed to have been cleaned of incriminating items, but he couldn't help but feel that he had forgotten something.

Ah. The fairies.

"Shoo," he ordered the grey little demons. "Get out of here. Go hide somewhere else for the day, the guardians can't see you!" They shot him a malicious glare before whizzing out the window, and just in time too: someone had entered the complex.

"Pitch," called a voice, and Pitch smiled widely, barely containing his glee. So- they had sent the Frost boy. Alone. Did they really believe him so weak? So powerless? Good. That was exactly what he wanted, and needed, them to believe. They must suspect him of **nothing**.

"What do you want?" he growled. He wasn't surprised that the boy felt no fear as he sauntered in cockily through the front door. Jack eyed him, leaning casually on his staff.

"Sandy got attacked by a fearling last night. You wouldn't know anything about it, would you?" Pitch curled his upper lip.

"You took care of most of my fearlings at Easter, _Jackie boy_. The few left took off after shoving me back down here. I haven't been able to leave since." The dry contempt exuded by the shadowy figure seemed to permeate the air. Jack, however, was unbothered.

"That's good," he grinned, balancing on top of his staff. "Because I'll be checking back here monthly to make sure you're not plotting anything. You don't mind, do you? Oh, wait- I don't care!" He laughed.

"Yes, well, you do that," said Pitch, sounding bored with the affair. "I'm going to go brood silently in the total darkness." With that, he swept off.

Jack wasn't bothered by the abrupt removal of his host: Pitch's company was depressing to say the least, and besides, Jack wanted to have a proper old poke around the lair without the Nightmare King watching over his shoulder.

_Weird_ he thought, sifting through old horror books and movies from the thirties, gruesome paintings and those unbelievably creepy stuffed toys found in every antique shop. He pulled out a bag of fake blood, and right after it a book on torture in the Tudor times. _Pitch sure is a freak. _

But, it appeared, a harmless freak. Jack saw nothing that gave him cause for concern, so, shrugging his shoulders, he flew out the door with nothing more than a cheerful

"See you next month!"

Pitch could hardly believe it. They had handed him the perfect opportunity on a silver platter. Jack Frost, down here by himself every month? It was better than anything he could have hoped for, had he spent a decade plotting! He threw open one of the windows.

"Fairies!" he hissed, his voice reverberating through the shadows. "Come here!" Within a minute they were all in his office, dutifully awaiting orders. He conjured up his secret cupboard, made from the last nightmare dust he had strength for, and pulled out four vials of cloudy red liquid. There was one between two for the fairies, and he quickly explained his instructions to them. In a second, they were off again.

It took all of Pitch's self restraint not to clap his hands in glee. Everything was falling into place, and when it did then he would be-

Oh.

Pitch's smile widened impossibly. This just could not get any better. It was like North had created an extra special Christmas and sent it down early, just for him.

Bunnymund was having a _nightmare_.

_He was running. Running from something evil. Something that had no restraint, something that was out to get him. Rogue fearlings._

_They were in a tunnel, and he could see at the end North and Tooth and Sandy, all waiting for him so they could escape. Because they could handle a dozen fearlings, perhaps two. But they were thousands in the tunnel behind him. There was no way they could handle that._

_Then suddenly he was at the end of the tunnel. North had the sleigh, and without so much as squeak of complaint, Bunny hopped in. It began to lift into the sky._

"_Wait a second," he muttered, glancing around the sleigh. "Where's Jack?"_

_Suddenly the winter spirit appeared from the tunnel, looking up at the sleigh with terror written across his face. He didn't have his staff, and Bunny realised he was trapped on the ground._

"_Stop!" he cried. "North, we have to go back!" But as he said it, the fearlings emerged, and within seconds the boy was gone._

"_Why didn't you tell us he was in there?" asked Tooth, her violet eyes swimming in tears. "We could have waited for him."_


	15. A Prank to end all Pranks

Tooth stared in shocked disbelief, her brain unable to comprehend what her eyes were showing her. Sandy stood next to her, mirroring her expression, and North stood on the other side of Sandy, trying to keep a mirthful smile off his face.

"You see what I mean?" he asked. They nodded wordlessly.

After Bunnymund's prank involving a bucket of pink dye and some very off eggs, Jack had been muttering nearly constantly about ways to get the Pooka back. At first Bunny had been on high alert, but as the weeks went by he relaxed, slipping into a false sense of security.

But Jack had been learning, learning the whole time he stayed at North's palace, his ice blue eyes taking in far more than any of the other guardians had ever realized. Two things in particular had turned out to valuable gems of information:

Firstly, the elves were incredibly stupid, and incredibly tough. It was like they were made of rubber, as if they had no bones to break and no nerves to feel. This latter point was useful in regards to the first point- if they had been any less hardy they surely would all have killed themselves by now.

Secondly, Bunnymund couldn't create his tunnels into North's palace, a matter of great contention between the two guardians. Bunnymund hated the cold, and hated having to run through snow, but North's reasoning was sound: the was a risk that a yeti bearing toys or (much more likely) an elf doing something stupid could fall through and either hurt themselves or wreak havoc.

He could create them within the palace when he himself was within the palace, but if he wanted to visit the palace, the entrances had to be outside the grounds. In fact, they always appeared in the same place, a little ridge about a mile away.

A little ridge that now had a hundred catapults pointed at it, loaded with grinning elves.

All Jack had to do was give them each a cookie, and they had been happy to comply with whatever he asked. They had helped him forge a letter from North, telling Bunny that he was needed at the Pole as soon as possible. They had helped him set up the catapults. And they had cheerfully loaded the catapults, with water balloons, their fellow kinsmen (securely bound and grinning proudly) and bags of dye that Jack had siphoned from Bunny's own river.

Tooth glanced over at the little figure beside her, and realized that Sandy was doubled over with silent laughter. A grin split across her face as she gazed back down at the ridge. Bunnymund's _expression!_ She caught site of Jack, sitting calmly on a stone, the trip wire securely in his hands.

"If you know what's good for you, you won't be hanging around!" she called down to him, and he laughed.

"No way!" he called back. "I'm going to stay just long enough to see his reaction, and then I'm going into hiding for a few days!"

"Smart boy!" chuckled North, and a golden thumbs up appeared above Sandy's head. A few more expectant minutes passed, before they heard a soft rumbling in the Earth.

"He's here," Jack whispered in anticipation. He'd been waiting months for this: it was going to be **brilliant**.

A small hole appeared in the ridge, and out leapt Bunny. He had a split second to register the cold, before he realised that something was drastically wrong.

He didn't have a chance to react. There was no time to leap back down the hole, no time to even think about dodging, no time to do anything but stare in stunned confusion at the objects sailing towards him. _Were those elves?_

And then he was bombarded. He was drenched, and his fur was electric blue and neon pink and spring green, and little elves laughed hysterically at his feet after they hit him like cannonballs. He could hear other laughter, too, and when he looked up he saw the other guardians cracking up, tears rolling down their faces at the sight of him. He focused on the white haired boy on the end, who gave him a quick salute before leaping up and disappearing into the clouds.

"**FROST!"** roared Bunny, **"I'm going to kill you, you snowflake! You popsicle stick, you... you... you're dead meat, do you hear me?! When I get my hands on you-"**

Bunny's rant continued for several minutes, dye dripping steadily from one of his ears. North was flat on his back, struggling to breath, and Tooth had to prop herself up against one of the stones she was laughing so hard. Gleeful faces floated mirthfully above Sandy's head as he rolled through the air, clutching his stomach. Up in the castles, the yetis and the remaining elves looked out the windows to find the source of the commotion, and they, too, laughed at the sight of the enraged Pooka, and even the reindeer down in the stables snickered to themselves, for though they couldn't see it, Jack had told them the plan beforehand.

The winter spirit himself was floating on the wind, high above any of their sight, listening to the tirade from the guardian of hope, who stood far below, shaking his fists at the heavens. The North Wind curled around him, complimenting him on a job well done. He had to say, it had gone flawlessly; better than anything he had expected, and Bunny's reaction far surpassed anything Jack could have hoped for.

"I'd better get out of here," he grinned when the Pooka had finally burnt himself out, and the wind obligingly carried him away, to a cave on a mountain in a place called Snowdonia, where he was sure none of the guardians would find him.

In fact, there were only three people in the vicinity not laughing at Jack's antics:

Phil the yeti had unlocked the cupboard with North's special food stash (which had been locked away to stop the elves getting to it), and was now helping the two little grey fairies uncork a vial of cloudy red liquid. They sprinkled it over the contents of the entire cupboard before Phil locked it again, safe in the knowledge that no one would be any the wiser. The fairies high fived, shook Phil's enormous pinkie in thanks, and shot out the window to report back to their master.

Phil shut the window behind them, and smiled to himself: he was glad that he wouldn't have to put up with the Winter spirit for much longer.


	16. Aftermath

**Trigger Warning: suicide and attempted suicide**

* * *

Tooth was still laughing to herself as she flew back to the palace. She wouldn't need her teeth to make sure that she never forgot that one. Oh, if Bunnymund could have seen his expression!

And her day just kept on getting better! North had sent her a platter of cookies, with a note saying that it was a new recipe. She didn't know why he hadn't just given them to her while she was up there, but she supposed it must have just slipped his mind: the guardian of wonder was wonderfully absent minded!

The fairies were in hysterics by the time she had finished telling them about the prank. Then one of them mentioned Jack's teeth and they all floated down in a swoon. Tooth grinned.

"Don't just run after the first boy with a good smile; looks aren't everything, you know!" she said, and they laughed. None of them had ever dated, and it was unlikely they would start now. That was, until one of them made a snarky comment about Baby Tooth having already run off with Jack. "What are you talking about?"

The fairies explained to her about how Baby Tooth had just run away one day. When she came back a few days later for teeth collecting duties, she had explained that she was staying in Jack's room, and that, yes, she would be back for work, but nothing else. Tooth frowned.

"But why would she run away?" The fairies shrugged innocently, and Tooth resolved to ask next time she saw either Jack or Baby Tooth.

* * *

Sandy was still at Santoff Clausen, having decided to dispense his dreams from there so that he and North could continue to chuckle over Bunny.

"Fetch us hot drinks," North ordered some of the elves, "and cookies!" They scurried away, and the Russian turned back to his oldest friend. "Bunny is not happy," smiled North. "Jack should watch out, if he knows what is good for him." Sandy grinned, and images of a golden Pooka chasing after what was clearly meant to be Jack appeared above his head. North laughed. "Yes, exactly that. I wonder where he is hiding..."

At that moment, the elves reappeared, and handed over two steaming mugs of cocoa and a large plate of cookies. Sandy took his gratefully, as well as a cookie shaped like a Christmas tree, and floated comfortably down into one of North's many squishy armchairs, his arm dangling by his side.

"It would not be next to the lake." North was continuing to talk, musing aloud to himself about where the winter spirit could be hiding. "Lake would be to obvious; perhaps Tooth has let him stay with her? No, Bunny would check there..."

The two grey fairies peeked mischeivously out from their hiding place underneath Sandy's couch, eyeing the beverage dangling in front of them. They grabbed the vial of cloudy red liquid, and one desperately began to tug, as the other frantically motioned to be careful.

"What is that Sandy? The Andes? I suppose he could hide in Andes, lots of caves in the Andes, but he has to go to the equator to get to them, and we both know he doesn't like the equator. Oh, you were saying the Himalayas? Well..."

The cork came out suddenly, with a faint pop that made both fairies freeze. Sandy glanced around confusedly, but North- who was still postulating possible place that Jack could be hidden- did not allow it to interrupt his flow of thought, if he had even heard it. Sandy shrugged, deciding it must have been something in the workshop, and continued to speak in images, almost all of which were misinterpreted by North.

The fairies now flew gently forward, careful to make sure their wings didn't hum, and slowly poured the fluid into the golden man's drink. Just as the last drop tipped in he began to raise it to his lips, and they shot back under the couch, dropping the glass bottle in their haste. It chinked as it hit the floor, and Sandy looked around again, now suspicious. He was about to check under his couch when North's stream of talk was interrupted by a

"GET AWAY! Get away from there!" North swiped at the elves, and they ran off, their grinning mouths full of cookie. He muttered something that sounded like 'bloody nuisances' and Sandy laughed to himself. The fairies underneath the couch sagged in relief, flying off before anything else could happen.

* * *

Everything was tinted a violent shade of red. That was strange; he didn't remember it all being red when he'd left. He also didn't remember ever being this angry in his entire life, and he was more than 600 years old!

Jack Frost had better watch out, that was all he was saying, and so had anyone else who dared to get on his wrong side. Even North and Tooth and Sandy were at risk of his temper snapping.

"OY!" he roared at one of his egg golems. "MOVE!" It had been standing right next to his chocolate supply, and Bunny didn't appreciate the thought of it being crushed. It hurried off, it's normally smiling face turned angry, and he growled after it before grabbing some chocolate for himself.

"Stupid Jack," he muttered, munching at the chocolate. "I'll show him. I'll pull another prank on him, and he won't know what hit him." He began to plan, but before he came up with so much as a single idea, exhaustion overcame him, and he fell asleep.

* * *

Jack lay back on the bed of snow and ice he had just fashioned for himself in the cave. He didn't want to sleep, he didn't want the awful nightmare that accompanied sleep, but it had been three days since the winter spirit last rested his head, and he was worn out. The North wind whistled through the chamber, comforting him. Jack gritted his teeth, took a deep breath, and allowed oblivion to take him.

_It was not a dream, but another memory, one that he had tried for years to squash in the darkest corners of his mind. His muscles tensed as he recognized where he was, as it all came flooding back._

_He had been spreading snow over Mt. Fuji. Though he rarely visited Japan, the glaciers had needed touching up and thickening. The job done quickly, he decided to have a quick explore._

_At the base of Mt Fuji was a forest. The trees were dense and there was no wildlife, blocking out the sounds. The quietness was eerie, and Jack didn't like it. The North wind had trouble rushing through to him, and he found himself walking._

_A sign next to a dirt path explained that this forest was called the Sea of Trees. Next to it was another sign, which proclaimed in large letters 'Don't do it!' in both Japanese and English. Jack was confused, and he stared at the sign, trying to work out what it was talking about. He stared for a long time, until suddenly he realised he couldn't see the letters anymore. The sun had set, and the forest was black._

_And now, through the trees, there came a ragged breathing. Jack started at the sound, and began to head towards the shuddering sobs of a desperate man._

"_Hello?" called the winter spirit, though he knew it would do no good. He came across a clearing and froze._

_A Japanese man, in his late forties it appeared, desperately clutched the lifeless body of a teenage girl, tears cascading down his face. Sobs wracked his body, and he suddenly let loose an earth shattering, stomach wrenching howl that seemed to rend the very sky in two. It was the howl of a broken man, and as Jack's eyes adjusted to the darkness he could see more bodies through the trees, dangling down limply. What was this place?_

_And now the man pulled a length of rope out of his bag, and began to knot it with shaking fingers. Jack suddenly realised what he was doing._

"_No!" he cried, running to the man. "Stop! You don't have to do this!" But the man could not hear, and he began to coil the rope around one of the branches of a nearby tree._

_Jack did the only thing he could thing to do: he used his ice to smash down a nearby tree. And another. He kept going, but the man was in so much agony he didn't even notice. The winter spirit looked up, and saw that he had started to climb the tree. Desperately, Jack smashed faster. The noise reverberated through the air, and he pleaded with all his heart that it would work. Up in the tree, the Japanese man braced himself to jump._

_The park wardens arrived to locate the source of the noise, and they cut the rope even as he jumped. Jack watched as an ambulance staff took him away, still screaming. Then they came back and took the body of his daughter too. Jack followed, wanting nothing more than to be out of the forest of death. He wouldn't be returning to Japan any time soon._

* * *

_How about a nice batch of depression to improve your Easter Sunday? I don't know about where you are, but Jack seems determined to mess with Bunnymund down here! It was snowing last night, and now there's a healthy coating of frost everywhere!_

_The Sea of Trees is a real place in Japan, famous for the number of suicides that take place there. It is known for being creepily quiet, and there isn't much wildlife, just bodies._

_As always, please review if you liked, review if you didn't like- hey, if your cat had kittens, tell me about it!_


	17. Strange Behaviour

Jack flew in the window and gazed around his bedroom, wary of any surprises Bunny might have left for him. Baby Tooth was curled up in her nest, sleeping peacefully, and he smiled before going to talk to North; he wanted to hear a blow by blow account of what Bunny had done after he left.

He opened the door as quietly as possible, and slipped out, careful not to wake the tiny fairy. The workshop was in full swing, and with less than three months until Christmas some of the yetis were beginning to get stressed. They eyed him suspiciously as he passed, leaving him in no doubt as to what would happen if he made mischief. Phil outright growled as he walked past, but Jack shrugged it off: after years of trying to break in, the yeti hadn't warmed to him.

He paused for a moment to admire an emerald green hot air balloon as it puffed gently past. The balloon part was larger than his head, and as it floated past a grinning elf poked its head out the basket.

However, the grin slid off its face the moment it saw Jack. With a loud hiss it leapt straight at Jack, scratching at his neck and face with needle-like nails. Jack gave a surprised shout and stumbled sideways, trying to pull the maddened elf away. However, it was anchored on tight, and he was only saved when another elf whacked it over the head with a frying pan.

"Thanks," Jack muttered, gingerly touching the scratches. Most of them were shallow, but a particularly bad one on his forehead was gently dripping blood into his eye. "What was that about?" The second elf shrugged, before turning and rolling its companion away. The winter spirit was about to get back up when the great doors at the end of the workshop burst open.

"WHERE IS HE?!" a voice shouted. Jack stared in shock as the figure strode towards him, offering no resistance when he was lifted by the scruff of his neck. It was with bewilderment that he found himself staring eye to eye with North. The great Russian stared down at him angrily, and gave the child a sharp shake. "Where have you been?"

"Hiding from Bunnymund," stammered Jack, scared by North's ire.

"Why?! Why have you been hiding?!"

"Because of the prank I played on him!" He stared at North incredulously: the man was known for being absent minded, but had he really forgotten about that already? And why was he so angry? To his relief, though, he found himself lowered back to the floor.

"Are you sure that was all you were doing?" North's voice was barely above a suspicious growl. Jack bit down a bubble of irrational laughter as a thought crossed his mind: was this Bunny's attempt at revenge? Having North shout at him and shake him? Somehow, he didn't think so.

"Yes," he replied, and the man relaxed.

"In that case, good to see you again Jack." With that, North was gone. Jack wandered over to the squishy armchairs next to one of the fireplaces, putting out the crackling flames with a wave of his staff. Two elves ran u with a plate of cookies even as a third one hissed at him and ran off. Had everyone gone mad?

A very angry _thing_ flew through the window and grabbed him by the neck.

It appeared so.

He struggled to push it off and suddenly realised it was Tooth, her teeth bared and a fist raised, ready to punch him. The other hand was tightening around his wind pipe.

"Where's Baby Tooth?!" She snarled. He tried to answer, but supply of air was blocked and all he could do was choke. "Where's. Baby Tooth?" Her fist raised higher, and he tried to tell her, but his supply of oxygen was depleted, and he could feel himself turning blue and-

Suddenly her fist connected with his jaw and he found himself sprawled on the ground beside the armchair, gasping for breath.

"In my room!" he spluttered, "She's in my room!" Tooth's foot stamped on his shoulder, using her weight to pin him to the floor.

"Why did you kidnap her?!"

"What?!" The heel ground into his shoulder blade and he yelped from the unexpected pain. Tooth's voice dropped dangerously.

"Why." Grind. "Did. You. KIDNAP HER?!"

"I didn't kidnap her! It was her idea! She came and asked me if she could stay!" Silence. Then a very small

"Oh." The foot disappeared and Tooth pulled him to his feet. He could feel a bruise blooming across his jaw and she grimaced guiltily. "Could I see her?" She asked quietly. Jack nodded, then paused.

"She's asleep now, but I can tell her when she wakes up." The strange expression crossed Tooth's face again, and he hastily backtracked. "On second thoughts, stay until she wakes up. It'll be a nice surprise for her." Tooth smiled, and settled down on the armchair where he was just sitting. One of the elves ran up with a cup of hot chocolate, handed it to her, bit Jack's ankle and ran off again. He stared after it in surprise, before sighing and floating in the armchair next to Tooth.

"So how's Bunnymund?" She shrugged.

"I haven't seen him since he ran off again. He said he was looking for you." Jack laughed, glad to have at least something normal happen today.

"Yeah, well, I found myself a pretty good cave to hide in and-" Suddenly a golden whip snatched his ankle, and he found himself dangling upside down. That small, sarcastic voice in the back of his mind that was so good at winding Bunny up muttered to itself _You have got to be kidding me._ The rest of him was just surprised, and more than a little disoriented. The whip swung him around so that he was face to upside-down face with Sandy.

The little man did not look happy.

"What is it Sandy?" asked Jack, trying to keep his voice neutral. Perhaps this was some strange, convoluted plan of Bunny's. Frustrate him to death?

Pictures appeared in rapid fire above Sandy's head, obviously explaining the cause of his vexation. However, Sandy's images could be difficult to translate at the best of times, and from upside down it was nigh impossible. Jack looked at Tooth beseechingly, but she was staring at him in horror.

"Jack! How could you?"

"What did I do?" he asked weakly, and she scowled.

"You know very well what you did: you stole dream sand from Sandy and turned it into nightmare dust! Why would you do that?" He struggled against crying out in exasperation, and instead forced his voice to stay calm and reassuring.

"Exactly: why would I do that? Even if I could turn dream sand into nightmares – which you _know _I _can't_- why? I helped you fight the nightmares, remember?" Sandy dropped him, and he hit the floor with a loud _thump_. Tooth didn't relax.

"I suppose," she murmured, still looking a bit suspicious. He sighed, and dusted himself off.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," he told them, "I'm tired, and Bunny's probably going to kill me tomorrow." He caught the look on Tooth's face. "And, while I'm in my room, I'll send Baby Tooth down," he added hastily, and she nodded.

_What is _**with**_ everyone today? _He muttered obscenities under his breath as he walked to his room, his body throbbing from the multiple attacks made against him. _It's like they've all taken loony pills or something._ Phil glared at him with barely concealed contempt, and Jack rolled his eyes.

"Hey, Baby Tooth," he said softly, gently shaking her awake. She blinked up at him sleepily. "You need to go downstairs. Tooth is looking for you and, well... she was acting kind of crazy, so I would go quickly if I were you." The tiny fairy nodded, ruffled her feathers to wake her up a bit more, and zoomed off.

Jack sighed, and crawled into bed, puzzling at the strange behaviour. _The only one who hasn't attacked me is Bunny, and he's the one I was expecting to attack!_ His eyes gently slid shut, but within a few minutes they were wide open again as sweat began to pour down his face. He slid out from between the blankets and took a closer look at his bed.

There, hidden under the sheet, was a pressure activated heating pad. Painted on it in royal blue die were the words

**Expect more. B**

Jack felt physically ill, and also angry. Bunny knew how bad heat was for him! This wasn't a harmless prank, and it wasn't funny. He had been there after Aestive's attack!

But maybe he hadn't cared...

* * *

Several floors below, there was pandemonium in the kitchen. Plates were being smashed, cupboards ripped open, and the chef yetis were struggling to control it. Later it would turn out that one of the elves had worked out the combination to get to North's special food supply, and had started handing out the food to his kinsmen. The sugar sent them wild.

* * *

_Hello my lovelies! I felt bad about what I put you through yesterday, so here's a lovely long chapter to make up for it, and little post-Easter cheer! Don't get too complacent though- there'll be plenty of angst in the near future!_

_As always, please review!_


	18. Conversations with Pitch

"Hey, ugly! Guess who's here to see you! "

Pitch's delight with the success of his plan was marred by the fact that he had to deal with such an annoying child coming to visit him. Jack poked his head into the room where he was sitting and started to make it snow, grinning widely. The Nightmare King sighed the sigh of the long suffering, and Jack's grin widened.

"Please tell me you're going to make this quick," he muttered, massaging his temples. It was Jack's fourth visit to him, and each time he found himself with a splitting migraine. Even the waves of doubt and fear now constantly rolling off the boy weren't enough to alleviate the inconvenience. Pitch had to remind himself why he had been so ecstatic about these events in the first place.

"Probably not," replied the child, his shoulders drooping momentarily. "Oddly enough, you're probably the only person I know who won't attack me." Suddenly the mischievous grin returned, and the snow thickened. "Aren't you happy about having more quality time with me?!"

"You've been attacked?" The grin slid slightly, but stayed put this time, and he leaned against the wall, trying to look nonchalant.

"North three times, Sandy once, Tooth eight times, and I've lost track of the times the elves have randomly leapt out at me."

"And Bunnymund?"

"They're not outright, like the others; but yeah, Bunny too."

It was music to Pitch's ears: his potion was taking effect, and even faster than he thought it would. _The elves?_ He wondered briefly, and then pursed his lips in annoyance as he realised what must have happened. Vowing to send the fairies back with more potion, he returned his attention to the boy.

"Yes, well, what do you expect?"

"What?"

"Didn't you know?" The winter spirit hesitated, too downtrodden to be suspicious . Pitch had to wonder at how fragile his self esteem was: it seemed even he (Pitch) had underestimated the effects of three hundred years in isolation.

"Know what?"

"Why, my boy, winter spirits aren't allowed to be happy. If they get too happy, their souls warm up, and then they can't make snow or ice." Pitch had no idea what he was saying: he was making it up on the fly, but the expression on the boy' s face was enough to reassure him that it was working.

"So... they have to be mean to me?" he asked slowly.

"Oh, I'm not saying they don't enjoy it. " The child- _for really_ Pitch thought to himself_ he is no more than a child_- set his lip and glared at Pitch.

"I think you're lying Pitch, and I think you're off topic: we're meant to be talking about you, not me. What have you been up to this month?" Pitch hadn't really expected it to work; still, he had sown the seeds of doubt in the child's mind . All he had to do now was hope they grew. The Nightmare King shrugged.

"Oh, a bit of sulking, some brooding, a fair amount of gardening-" A splutter erupted from Jack, and Pitch raised an eye brow coldly. "Yes?"

"You garden?"

"I can show you if you want."

* * *

North was feeling strange. He'd been feeling strange for nearly a month now, and for once it wasn't just his pre-Christmas stress. There was something wrong with Jack, something the boy wasn't telling them, and he was determined to find out what.

He had already mentioned this to the others, and they all agreed: the boy was acting decidedly shady. He kept disappearing, claiming to be making it '_snow'_ or sending '_blizzards_.' Did he really think them so gullible that they would fall for that? They could see the malicious glint in his eyes, the vindictive snarl hidden behind the omnipresent grin. Oh, yes; he did not look nearly as innocent as he believed he did.

Even the elves were sensing trouble, and normally anything short of imminent death (and occasionally not even that) was too weak to permeate their thick skulls. But he had seen them, hissing at the boy, biting the him, spitting in his drink when he wasn't looking... North had to chuckle. It was good of the elves, to rally themselves against the threat.

For that's what Jack was, he was sure of it. And as soon as the winter spirit returned from whatever suspicious activity he was currently up to, North was planning on confronting him. There was only a month left until Christmas. He couldn't afford to have threats.

* * *

"Wow." Jack stared in disgust. "This place is almost as ugly as you!"

"Charmed, I'm sure."

Pitch had not had much to do with his garden since he had harvested the seeds of doubt nearly five months before. As a result, it was looking even worse than usual, overgrown and weedy, with possibly a few dead animals mouldering among the foliage. Jack swung the gate open and wandered in. "I wouldn't do that, if I were you."

"Why?"

"At least half the plants in this garden eat flesh of some kind. The other half subsides off human flesh alone."

"Yeah, well, I'm not human, am I?"

"Your immortality does not change the fact that you are built like a human, and therefore appetizing to my vegetation. " Jack frowned, and turned to Pitch, eyeing him suspiciously.

"How are you feeding them?"

"Cerberus- you know, the three headed dog that guards the underworld?" Jack nodded. He'd heard the name. "He sends up a wagon of carcasses once a week, in return for me not giving his puppies nightmares."

"I thought you couldn't control the nightmares anymore."

"He doesn't know that."

"And the bodies?"

"All dead by natural causes, I can assure you. Go talk to Cerberus yourself if you want."

"I can go to the underworld?"

"Naturally. The question is, can you get out again?" Jack looked at him question ingly. "Well I don't know! It varies from spirit to spirit. The problem is, if you can't, you're stuck down there- an undead immortal in the land of the dead."

"What happens to you then?"

"Some make a deal with Hades. Persephone was one of them, she gets six months on the surface and six months underground, every year. Others go mad; eventually commit suicide, just so they can join the realms of those they see, but cannot speak with." An image of a wood and a body flashed through Jack's head and he shuddered. _Never._

"I should probably get going," he told Pitch, rising into the air. "I don't want to give them any reason to freak out at me."

"Goodbye, Jack," replied the Nightmare King. A smile twisted his features as the boy flew off. "_Merry Christmas."_

* * *

_Ohmygosh I cannot believe this! As of writing, this has 48 followers and 20 favourites! Thank you so much to all of you reading this, and extra-large thanks to those who've reviewed! It means so much to be, especially as this is my first fanfic!_

_Just wondering for a quick opinion- who should get the majority of the angst, Jack or the other guardians? Or should I just slather it onto both like butter on a bagel?_


	19. Interrogations

Jack really did not want to be dealing with this. Two elves were angrily skirting around his ankles, trying to bite his toes, while a third was licking the sole of his foot with its rough, sandpaper like tongue. He squirmed uncomfortably, partly from that but mainly due to North's angry glare, which was boring into the side of his skull.

"And you claim," the man said suspiciously, "that you were only at Pitch's because I told you to be there?"

"Yes." Jack was in North's office, having been dragged down for yet another interrogation. These were becoming annoyingly frequent, and each time they yielded no result. North was sat opposite him, thick eyebrows low over eyes that had recently turned cold whenever they were turned to the winter spirit.

"What did you do while you were there?"

"Made sure he couldn't leave. Annoyed him a bit. He showed me his garden."

"Now I know you are lying to me."

"No, I'm serious! It had all these crazy, poisonous plants growing in it." Jack paused, thinking about his time with Pitch. "North?"

"What is it? Are you going to start telling me the truth?" North had leapt to his feet, blowering. Jack suppressed a sigh. It hurt that he was being treated like this, like a common criminal. It was worse still that he was getting used to it. Some nights he considered going back to his lake, but he... he didn't think he'd be able to bear it. Not that it would last very long anyway: they would probably find him and accuse him of something else within a few days.

"It was just something Pitch said."

"He insulted us, didn't he? Did you agree with him?"

"North! Stop, please!" The child was begging. Begging the old Russian to get past his paranoia and to just _listen_ to him. For a moment North saw the desperation in his face, the tears gleaming in his eyes, and he wondered what he was doing. Then it was gone. "Pitch said that if a winter spirit gets too happy, he can't make snow or ice anymore; is that true?"

"Of course not, Jack. Pitch is lying to you, and I think it would be better if Bunnymund were to take charge of these monthly visits: we wouldn't want you getting any ideas, now, would we?" The last part came out as a growl, and Jack shook his head. "That's settled then; now get out of my office."

Jack trudged sadly through the door, too depressed to fly. All around him, the yetis glared and the elves hissed. He batted one off with a flick of his hand as it flew towards him, sending its little body flying. He didn't like the fact that that had become an automatic reflex, but he didn't focus on it. A little voice was running through his head, finishing off what Pitch had said:

'_Oh, I'm not saying they don't __**enjoy**__it...'_

* * *

Tooth wasn't happy. Jack had sent a snowstorm through France, England and Canada that night, and despite the winter spirit's repeated denials, North's gut was practically gospel, so if he had said the boy was up to something, he was up to something. Not that she couldn't see it herself; he was too skittish, and he flinched away from physical contact. He was hesitant when initiating conversation, and easy to deter. Some might chalk it up to the 300 odd years he spent in isolation, but Toothiana knew better: he was clearly worried that something was going to slip out.

Even her fairies agreed with her. Well, some of them. The ones that chalked Baby Tooth's initial fleeing and prolonged absence (she was still with him!) to lies the boy had fed her. He had hoodwinked her little baby, and if it went on much longer, well! Tooth was going to march down there and give him a piece of her mind.

Of course, some fairies disagreed. Some fairies were looking at their mother with more and more uncertainty, and were constantly getting into fights with their more wily sisters. These fairies blamed their sisters for bullying Baby Tooth, stating that Jack was only involved because Baby Tooth knew that he wouldn't mind her staying. Tooth pitied these fairies- they were clearly too enamoured with Jack's teeth to be objective.

* * *

In his caves, Pitch was desperately trying not to gag on the paranoia that imbued the air. It was worse than when conspiracy nuts gathered together at 'comic-cons,' or whatever they were called. It was awful.

Paranoia wasn't fear. It wasn't delectable, it didn't sooth his body and excite his mind, and he definitely didn't want more of it than he already got. Paranoia was hot and heavy and sticky. It gave him a headache, it made his joints ache, and too much of it made him dizzy. It was like being in a humid swamp in the middle of the day, with nothing to drink and nothing to rest on. This was the worst phase of Pitch's plan, even worse than when he'd had to endure those children laughing, had to fake defeat and humiliation.

The silver lining was Jack's fear. It was like an unfinishable glass of ice cold lemonade being handed to him while he was trapped in the swamp. It was heavenly.

Of course, it would be even better when mixed with the fears of the guardians. That, and all this paranoia would be gone. He was definitely looking forward to that.

* * *

"Hey, Baby Tooth," said Jack tiredly as he approached his room. He hadn't slept for the past five days, terrified as he was of nightmares. He wanted to confront Pitch over it, but if it wasn't Pitch's doing then he didn't want Pitch knowing; it was a difficult situation.

Baby Tooth was buzzing around his head and tugging at his hair anxiously. He smiled weakly at her: she had been the only one to remain steadfastly sane, and he didn't know what he would do without her around. But now she seemed anxious, and it seemed to be something to do with his bedroom.

"Has Bunny left another something?" After the heating pad, there had been all sorts, from threats painted on the walls to an angry racoon that had been locked inside. That one was only a few days before, and he still had the scratches from it. Sighing to himself, Jack reached for the door handle. _Let's get this over with._

Baby Tooth was panicking. She knew what was behind that door, and she knew that she couldn't let Jack open it. But he ignored her protests, and he brushed off her warnings. Tears welled in her eyes as he grabbed the handle. This was not going to be good.

As Jack pushed the door open, an elf (who had been slowly creeping up for the past thirty seconds) leapt out at his ankle. Jack leapt onto his staff, jerking in shock as a gunshot ran through the complex.

The elf had a smoking hole straight through its hat, and when Jack peered in the room he saw an air rifle that had been connected to the door via a trip wire. Its barrel was also smoking, and it was pointing straight where Jack's shin would have been.

The workshop erupted as yetis panicked, and the elf began to scratch Jack's calf angrily. He heard North's bellow of rage, and he heard the heavy footsteps pounding up to drag him off to another interrogation, this one surely as thankless as the last. But all this was drowned out by one thought that focused all of Jack's attention:

_Bunny tried to shoot me._

* * *

_Hello my lovelies! Sorry, I know this chapter's choppy, but a bad night's sleep has reawakened the demon known as 'Writers Block!' (oh no, not that, please!)  
_

_You too can help slay this beast, by reviewing! Including opinions, constructive criticism, or plot ideas will allow for power ups, and I may even manage to turn out two chapters tomorrow!_

_Do it for Jack!_


	20. Christmas Eve

It was Christmas Eve, and North was red in the face, bellowing at the yetis to load the sleigh faster. The other guardians had come up, as they did every year, but were sensibly staying out the way, sticking to one of the living rooms with the squishy arm chairs. They grinned at each other, used to the Russian's pre-Christmas stress, but their grins slid off their faces when Jack walked through the door.

"Jack," said Tooth coldly.

"Merry Christmas!" He forced a smile onto his face, pretending everything was fine. "How are you guys?" No one said anything, and Jack suppressed a sigh. "Did I do something wrong?"

"I don't know, mate: you tell me."

"Well, I don't think I've done anything wrong, but you guys have been acting kind of... off." Tooth's eyes widened in incredulity.

"We're acting off? WE'RE ACTING OFF?" she half shrieked, and started to laugh in a maniacal way. "He's funny!" She gasped, "I'll give him that. DON'T-" and now her face contorted into a glare, and she pointed straight at Jack's chest "-even TRY to pull that innocent stuff. We can see right through it. We're onto you."

Jack looked at deranged violet eyes, the feathers fluffed up angrily, and the finger pointed accusingly at him. His heart wept silently, and he turned and left the room. They all watched him go.

"He didn't even bother to defend himself," stated Bunny matter-of-factly. "He knows we're onto him." Sandy nodded vehemently.

"I just wish we could catch him red handed!" muttered Tooth, her once kind eyes now cruel and suspicious.

"We'll get him, Tooth," said Bunny reassuringly. "When you're doing as much wrong as that boy is, you're sure to slip up eventually. He's not that smart, he'll make a mistake soon."

Unbeknownst to them, Jack stood outside the door, tears freezing on his icy cheeks. With a shuddering gasp, he fled before he could hear anymore.

* * *

This was the part that made his job worthwhile. Seeing the sleeping children, the trees they worked so hard to decorate gleam, the presents twinkling in the glow of fairy-lights, made all the stress and work and anxiety worth it. He loved his job.

"Onwards!" he cried to his reindeer as they left Wales. They still had all of Europe to do, and only a few hours to do it in. Suddenly, though, the wind tipped the sleigh off course, and he narrowed his eyes as he saw the tiny, blue-clad figure shoot by. "FROST!" he roared, but the boy was gone. Every instinct told him to go and see what the boy was up to, but he had gifts to deliver. "When I get back," growled the old man under his breath, "you are in big trouble."

* * *

The eight little grey fairies grinned at each other, their eyes sly and conniving. They were in the same hiding place as before, except this time it was Tooth who was sitting above them, and they were fighting off sniggers as the guardians around them ripped into their youngest member.

With them were several vials filled with cloudy blue liquid. Pitch had brewed it up a few days before, and they knew exactly what it was: the antidote to the other poison, the red one. The blue would return those affected by the red, the draft of the fair-weather friend, to their normal selves. Even better, they would know what they had done under the influence of the other draft (even if they didn't know they had been under the draft's influence). They couldn't wait to administer it, but they had strict instructions: stay put until the big blow up between Jack and the other guardians. However, in the meantime, they had permission to zap as many elves and yetis with it as they wanted, to help them bide the time.

To help them with this task, their master had fashioned them special goggles out of nightmare sand, which allowed them to see who had taken the potion by revealing a glowing red aura around the body. It also made them look ridiculous.

One by one, they quickly flitted out from under the sofa and through the door, carefully clutching the vials. Bunny and Tooth were too busy insulting Jack to notice anything, but Sandy glanced around. He shrugged, and once again attributed it to noise from the workshop.

The fairies whizzed along, careful with their limited supply of potion. It only took one drop to return an elf to normal, and two for a yeti. The guardians (who would have ingested much more of the original brew) would require far more. Beneath them, yetis relaxed for the first time in months, safe in the knowledge that they'd have no more work for the next few days. The elves were running along gleefully, playing with their own 'special' brand of toys that North never delivered to the children. The fairies stopped to watch, snickering as the elves injured themselves in nearly every way possible.

A substantial number of elves had managed to get to the food, and it took nearly two hours for the fairies to get them all. Thankfully, not that many yetis had (most of them just didn't trust Jack in the workshop) and so when they whizzed back under the chair, they still had four bottles of potion, much to their relief. Now they just had to bunker down... and wait.

* * *

Jack's heart had sunk at the sight of the sleigh, and turned to stone altogether when he heard North's shout. He considered stopping. Going back. Or never going back. Building an ice tower in the heart of Antarctica, or maybe carving one into an ice sheet. Hidden underneath the ice, _in _the ice, him in his element, where no one could find him, at least not for a very, very long time. Where he wouldn't be attacked, or be accused, or interrogated, or berated, no reprimands for crimes uncommitted, no suspicious glares as he passed. Peace. Quiet. Isolation.

It sounded very, very lonely. Cruel words were better than no words at all... right?

He swooped down and landed easily on the snow covered mountain, grinning to himself: it was snowing in Snowdonia. Pulling back a bush, he crawled through the tiny opening that was the cave entrance. He would never have found it himself, but the North Wind knew almost every nook and cranny, particularly on mountains like this.

The glow of his staff illuminated the cave with an eerie blue light, the items on the floor casting long shadows. He pulled off the tarpaulin, and smiled down sadly. There sat five beautifully wrapped gifts, put there before all the madness started.

Jack sat down and sighed. He had a few hours to kill before North would be back, and he wanted to give them all their gifts together. Baby Tooth already had hers (a tiny little jumper for her teddy bear), but he hadn't even mentioned to the others that he was getting them gifts.

Suddenly he remembered the cards. He needed to write them. Before he had thought it would be a simple _Merry Christmas, Love Jack._ But perhaps he could use them to get his message across. To apologize for whatever it was that he had done (_surely_ all this couldn't have stemmed from the prank on Bunny; the others had found it hilarious at the time!). Maybe, just maybe, they would _listen._ Hadn't that been what he wanted all along? To have someone talk to him, and to listen when he talked back?

Leaning forward, he began to write.

* * *

Pitch was restless. The end was so near! Victory was tangible! But there was still a few hours left until the show got under way, and how to kill the time? Oh, how to kill the time?

He paced back and forth, crushing a few nightmares for good measure. He had nothing to torture, he had no one to scare, he had to keep up the pretence of not being able to leave his lair, ugh! The lack of stimulation was _agony_!

And the paranoia had increased threefold over the course of the last two weeks. He didn't even have the boy's fear, because the stupid child was refusing to sleep, and was currently focusing on something else.

"Pitch?" called a voice uncertainly. The Nightmare King froze. The boy was here? Now? Why? To join him? Unlikely. Then what? "Pitch?" said the voice again, and Jack Frost wandered into the room. Pitch relaxed. The boy was clearly not here to join him. Why then?

"Can I help you?" he asked distastefully, and Jack's face split into a grin. He hefted an old sac off his shoulder and rummaged around in it, eventually pulling out a gift.

Pitch couldn't believe it. It was wrapped in ice blue paper and tied with a delicate white ribbon. The words _**Pitch Black**_ were printed clearly on the front. It was a present. For him. What on Earth was this child up to?

Jack laughed, as though able to read his mind, and then he blushed a pale pink, making his skin look like strawberries and cream.

"I figured no one should be alone for Christmas," he said, almost shyly. Then he shook himself off, and the grin widened. "Not even someone as ugly as you!" With a cheerful whoop he disappeared up the tunnels, leaving nothing but a flurry of snowflakes where he stood. Pitch, who had remained rooted to the spot, now looked at the gift he found himself holding. He carefully ripped off the paper, wary of what might be inside.

**Demons and devils from around the world**

It was a book. It was a bit old, it was a little tattered, but it was a book. And it looked quite interesting to. Pitch smiled to himself. Yes, this would help to pass the time nicely.

* * *

Jack laughed, swooping through the air with the sac on his back. He could see why North loved his job so much! It was amazing, the freedom of flying combined with the anticipation of giving a gift, seeing the person's eyes widen in delight, feeling proud of your efforts to wrap it beautifully. It was incredible.

And he felt calmer now; he felt safer. They would read his cards, see what he had to say, and they would see the trouble he had gone to. They would see how perfect his gifts were, and they would suddenly realise how they'd been acting. They would try to apologise, but he would laugh, wave it off, and tell them there was no need. His grin widened: everything was going to be perfect.

He could see the sleigh, already parked, and through one of the windows he could see the other guardians smiling with North, as they sat clutching mugs of steaming hot chocolate. A wave of longing broke over Jack, before he shook his head and reminded himself that _No, I am a guardian, I am part of that._

For the first time in his life, he decided to use the front door, rather than just shooting through one of the windows like he usually did. He felt that maybe this would create a better impression. He hoped so.

By the time he reached the workshop, the other guardians had heard of his arrival, and they were waiting. He smiled at them happily, but they glared back.

"Where have you been?" North growled, his voice low and dangerous.

"Snowdonia," said Jack, still determinedly smiling. From high above the little grey fairies stared down, watching with excitement. It was coming soon, they could feel it! Master would be so happy.

"We want the truth, mate." Bunny pulled out one of his boomerangs and ran his finger along the edge, glancing at Jack to make sure he got the message.

"I was!" he protested. "North saw me on my way there, didn't you North?"

"I saw you flying," said the Russian. "I did not know where you were going. And that was hours ago. Where have you been?" Sandy shifted slightly, and Jack noticed he had both whips fully formed and ready for use. The winter spirit swallowed nervously.

"After I went to Snowdonia, I went to see Pitch," he said as confidently as he could. North reeled back, while Tooth hissed angrily. Bunny's fist clenched around the boomerang, and Sandy cracked the whips threateningly. "I was giving him a Christmas gift, I was trying to be nice, I'm not working with him I swear!" he protested, but the others shouted over him, Tooth screaming insults, and Bunny shouting about how he knew Jack wasn't to be trusted, North ranting about betrayal and companionship, and even Sandy was flashing very rude symbols at the winter spirit. "Please! I can explain!" he begged, but they wouldn't listen. They were closing in around him, and he clutched his staff desperately, fighting the urge to cry. "Please! Just listen to me! It's Christmas, I felt bad for him, I get it, I shouldn't have done it, I brought you presents too, please, no, please-"

"**ENOUGH!"** roared North, and everyone froze. The great Russian turned to Jack with a glare of utter contempt. The winter spirit suddenly realised it was hopeless: they would never listen to him. "Jack Frost: you are a liar, and worse, you are a traitor. We took you in, looked after you, and treated you as one of our own." Glass crystals tumbled down Jack's cheeks. "You have betrayed our trust, and consorted with our greatest enemy. For this, I strip you of your title: you are no longer a guardian. I also vow that I shall personally make sure that no child ever believes in you." Bunny stepped forward.

"Expect that from me too," he said.

"And me," agreed Tooth, and Sandy nodded. Sobs were beginning to wrack Jack's frame, but they did not care. The traitor did not deserve their sympathy.

"Leave now, Jack," demanded North. "And if you ever come to one of our homes again, expect to be attacked."

Jack stared at the people who had been, for a few short months, his family. They glared back. Tooth's large violet eyes blazed with anger and Bunny's with triumph. North's eyes were cold, and they showed hurt as well as fury. But Sandy's eyes... Sandy's eyes broke him.

They showed no anger, no hurt, no sadness. They showed no emotion at all. They seemed to look straight through him. Slowly, the little golden man turned his back on the winter spirit. The other guardians followed suit.

They heard the soft _thump_ of Jack's sack hitting in the floor, and felt the icy gust of wind as he fled the room. They turned and looked at each other, smiles beginning to break across their faces. They had done it! They didn't have to bother with him anymore! The traitor was gone!

That was when the fairies above tipped the antidote onto their heads.

* * *

_Oooohh! The plot thickens!_

_I can't believe this is twenty chapters! It doesn't feel like twenty! As a little celebration, I've given you an extra long chapter- two and a half thousand words! Thank you so much to all of you who have followed, favourited, and reviewed, I love you all! Everyone's voted slather it on, so the next few chapters are going to be pretty-_

_-depressing._


	21. Letters

**_Hello my lovelies! I wanted to write these in, but they didn't fit into a long chapter, so I've given them their own many chapter while I work to tame the angst that is ripping through my computer!_**

**_So here! Have a bonus mini-chapter!_**

* * *

_Dear Sandy,_

_This music box is made of never-melting ice and silver. When wound, it will play an old lullaby that my mother used to sing for me. I hope it helps you to come up with incredible dreams, and I hope it helps you get to sleep yourself. Maybe it'll even help you to see past whatever I've done, and to give me a few good dreams every now and then._

_Have a very merry Christmas,_

_Jack_

* * *

_Dear Bunny,_

_I'm sorry about the pranks, all of them, and I'm sorry for all those times I made it snow at Easter. Most of all, I'm sorry I wasn't there last Easter, when Pitch smashed the eggs: I hope that one day you can forgive me for everything I've done, but I'll understand if it takes a while._

_These paints are made from snow that fell at sunset, and they've captured every shade, from the fiery red of the sun itself, to the pinks and lilacs that were on the clouds at the time. I hope you can use them to make the next Easter the best Easter ever._

_Have a very merry Christmas,_

_Jack_

* * *

_Dear Tooth,_

_I wasn't sure what to get you, but I worked it out in the end. This necklace is made of frozen dye, and it has the promises of all the winds that whoever wears it won't be blown off course. It will never melt. I hope it helps you with your rounds, and I'm sorry if I ever created a blizzard that hindered you. I'm sorry for everything else, too._

_Have a very merry Christmas,_

_Jack_

* * *

_Dear North,_

_What to get the man who already has everything? It took me a long time to think of something, but then I remembered your core. You see the wonder in everything, and so I've made you this star. It's the decoration for the top of a Christmas tree, but if you look into it on Christmas day it shows you the faces of children unwrapping their presents. Never forget that you are a great man, and that you bring wonder to children around the world. I'm sorry for what I did to hurt you, and if I could, I would take it all back._

_Have a very merry Christmas,_

_Jack_

* * *

In a small cave in Snowdonia, scrunched up papers littered the floor. On it were written emotions, confessions, apologies and pleas. All of them were smeared with tears, and all of them were discarded for their more neutral, less desperate counter parts. Jack Frost didn't know how to talk through his emotions, and he didn't know how to put them into letters.


	22. Alone at Christmas

The workshop was silent. The grey fairies had dropped the potions and left, not wanting to risk being caught. Yetis gazed down sadly from the upper levels while elves watched from the shadows, understanding for once that they should keep out the way. Sat on the floor were the remaining guardians, gifts and letters clutched in their laps, their eyes reading and rereading the words. Tooth was the first to realize she was crying. Bunny was the first to break the silence.

"We need to find him," he said eventually, tears running through his soft grey fur as he marvelled at the beauty of the paints. The others looked up, each appearing relieved that they weren't the only ones crying. Nobody moved. "We need to find him!" he repeated, his voice cracking with emotion. Tooth cried harder.

"What have we done?" she whispered, desperately clutching her gift close. "Oh, Manny, what have we done?"

Golden tears streaked down Sandy's face as he gently began to wind the music box. The song it played was soft and slow and achingly beautiful. It echoed through the palace like the song of a broken angel, a haunting reminder of what had just happened.

As the song played, black sand began to snake into the workshop, feeding itself off the guardians. None of them noticed as it inched closer, and it gorged itself. They were afraid: afraid of what Jack would do, of what would happen next. Afraid to admit to themselves what they had done. The song finished, and Sandy closed the music box. North sighed heavily, and began to rise to his feet.

"Okay. Let us go and find Jack."

That was when the darkness snatched them.

* * *

Baby Tooth was snuggled up in her nest, cuddled up to her teddy bear. Her large violet eyes stared up at the ceiling, contemplating.

She knew that the other guardians were in the workshop, and she knew that Jack would be back by now, with his sac of presents. He had told her about them, told her about what he had gotten everyone. She wanted to go see him, to wish him merry Christmas, but she didn't want to have to see how the others were treating him, her mother especially. She had seen Jack attacked often enough over the last few weeks, sometimes over her. She didn't want to witness it again; she would stay put until he came up, and wish him a merry Christmas then.

But as she lay there, her tiny little ears, hidden as they were beneath feathers, picked up a noise. Even here, at the very top of the tower, Jack's song echoed through the hallways. A smile crept over Baby Tooth's face: this was his present to Sandy, she remembered him humming the song! If it was playing, it meant the presents were open. It meant that things were alright, back to normal, even if it was just for Christmas Eve.

Grinning now, she leapt from her nest and shot through the door, hurrying to the workshop. She wanted to hug Jack, and to hug her mother, and wish _everyone_ a merry Christmas! The song was beginning to wind to a close, and as she approached she heard a great sigh.

"Okay. Let us go and find Jack," announced a voice that could only belong to North. Find Jack? She shot into the workshop, desperate to know what was going on.

But she could only stare in horror as tendrils of shadow shot out and dragged them into the night.

* * *

Pitch's face twisted into a smile as he watched the guardians slam, groaning and grumbling, onto his hard stone floor. He snapped his fingers and nightmare sand raced forward, looping around their wrists and loosely chained them to the floor. Loose enough so they could get up and move around a little. Tight enough that they wouldn't attack. Sandy's wrists were chained together as well, so the little golden man couldn't make use of his pesky dream sand.

Another click, and the shadows raced forward, snatching North's sabres and Bunny's boomerangs. They were hidden in a side room: there would be no need for them.

"Well well," he sneered, stepping into view. They scowled up at him, still too disoriented to fully understand what was going on. "Look what we have here. A group of friends, come to wish me a merry Christmas. But it seems one of you is missing; where's Jack?" They climbed to their feet, glaring at him.

"Let us go and you won't get hurt," growled Bunny, who was already starting to struggle with the chains. Pitch laughed coldly.

"Who's going to hurt me? You're all stuck, and poor Jack is all alone somewhere out there. He won't come looking. I believe you promised to... attack him, if he ever did. Am I wrong?" None of them replied; they just hung their heads in shame. Tooth began to cry again and Pitch snorted in disgust. "Oh, hush you silly girl; no one cares for your snivelling. Now, I'll ask again: am. I. Wrong?"

"No," sighed North. "You are not wrong."

"How did you know, though?" asked Bunny suspiciously. Pitch's smile returned, making them shudder.

"I have my ways," he replied silkily. "Girls?" Out of the darkness floated the eight grey fairies, the sharp little teeth glinting as they smiled maliciously. Tooth gasped in horror, then leapt forward, struggling against her bonds.

"Pitch!" she howled, "What did you do to my girls? What did you do? I'm going to-" a gag of black sand appeared over her mouth.

"Much better," Pitch smiled, "and if it comforts you- though I'm sure it won't- your fairies haven't been the only ones helping me. Boys?" From the darkness stepped an egg golem, followed by

"Phil!" gasped North. The yeti smiled contemptuously, and Pitch laughed again.

"You're all such fools: did you really think that you'd beaten me that easily? That a couple of happy little children were enough to stop the Nightmare King? As if I still cared about the little mortals. No, I realized that there are much bigger fish to fry. Even the Man in the Moon didn't realize my plan, and isn't he meant to be to you what you are to the children? I-"

"Quit yer monologing and tell us what yeh've done," growled Bunny. The Nightmare King didn't even spare him a glare, his mood was too good.

"I've barely done anything," smiled Pitch. "All I did was slip you some potions of doubt- to which you've now received the antidote. It's not my fault you decided to take it out on your youngest guardian" They glanced at each other guiltily, knowing what they thought they'd seen- Jack plotting, Jack scheming, Jack trying to undermine them. Jack with a vicious glint in his eyes and a cruel smile on his lips. They'd taken it out on Jack, who had no idea what he was doing wrong. "Oh, and I may have gotten Phil to pour nightmare sand into his wounds; his fear is just _so delicious_." Tooth began to struggle at the chains again, the gag muffling her fury.

"You will pay for this, Pitch!" roared North, and Sandy signed something that Pitch didn't catch, but definitely got the gist of.

"Crude, little man. I hope your dreams aren't as filthy as your symbols. Now, I'll ask one last time." Pitch grabbed Tooth and shoved her to the floor, where she stopped struggling, winded. "Do you want to see what has become of your little winter spirit?" They all stopped and looked at him.

"Yes," said Bunny finally. "And if yeh've hurt one hair on his head, I'll skin yeh alive."

"Oh, I don't have him. I haven't seen him since he stopped by to give me a Christmas gift, about four hours ago. Such a sweet child: said he didn't think anyone should be alone at Christmas." Pitch walked up to his mirror, and Bunny took the opportunity to hastily wipe away a tear that was threatening to fall- it would no good to show weakness.

The Nightmare King reached out and touched the mirror gently. "Jack Frost," he whispered, and the smooth surface rippled outwards, as a scene came into view.

* * *

_This chapter really just didn't want to be written! I'm sorry if it's not up to my usual standard, but it's the best I can manage. As alway, please review! I love you all, and I'm sorry for the broken feels (no I'm not)._


	23. Numb

**Two in one day! Because I love you, I wrote this, I wanted your feedback, and mainly because I wanted to watch your hearts shatter and die. As always, please review telling me about your feels. Enjoy!**

**TW: suicide**

* * *

Jack wasn't sure how he'd gotten where he was. He wasn't sure where he was. He didn't know why he was there of all places. All he knew was that he was alone. Again.

It was so much worse than before. Before he hadn't known what it was like to have friends, to have a family. He could long for, he could hope for, he could wish for, but he didn't truly know what he was missing out on. He hadn't known what a warm hug felt like, hadn't known what a family meal was like, the feeling of someone tousling your hair, or the warm glow when someone tells you 'sleep well.'

Now he was cold, cold in a way that he'd never been. It was so cold it burned, eating away at his soul, threatening to turn him to dust. He wanted to cry, but no tears were left to fall. Dry sobs wracked his tiny frame, and he curled up, clutching his staff like a child clutches a teddy bear.

All around him a blizzard raged. Snow and ice swirled from the heavens as the wind howled its anger at the guardians. Hail whipped against his skin, leaving long red scratches that smarted painfully. Visibility was next to nothing as land blurred into sky, all of it a harsh white that made his head spin.

And suddenly he found himself curled up in the snow, with the wind screaming, and the voices in his head screaming louder- _What have you done? We should __**never**__ have trusted you? You were with Pitch? Give back Baby Tooth! You are no longer a guardian. If we see you, we __**will**__ attack. I'm the Easter Bunny: people __**believe**__ in me. I'm not saying they aren't __**enjoying**__ it. Why would I make nightmares? I helped you to defeat Pitch! I'm gonna get you, you little Popsicle stick! Yetis say they must cauterize the wounds. You're worse than Pitch: you __**kill **__people. You said you wanted to be alone, so __**be**__ alone. Yes, you __**always**__ play tricks! How much innocent blood is on your hands?  
_

And he was screaming. He was screaming with the pain of a child whose heart has just been crushed, of a child who knows they will never again see their family. It hurt so badly. Every inch of him hurt so badly, and the coldness within was destroying him, driving him mad. He couldn't bear it. He couldn't bear it.

He wanted to block out the pain, wanted to shut it out, protect himself, to make it stop. That one thought rang through, gave him something to focus on. He grabbed his staff and concentrated on it with all his might. Block out the pain.

Starting with the physical.

Jack's emotions were too embroiled to stop the storm. He didn't think he'd ever created something this bad. The blizzard of '68 seemed like light snowfall in comparison, and he wondered again where he was. Something in the back of his mind voiced a concern about people getting hurt, but he quashed it. The last thing he needed was more to worry over.

Struggling against the wind and the hail, he lifted his staff and with a slash created a wall of ice. Then another. Faster and faster he slashed, screaming all the while, spinning around to do the same on the other side, and he was spinning and slashing and screaming and it was going dark and it was going quiet and suddenly he fell.

He was curled up on the floor of a protective bubble that he had created for himself. Through the ice he could see nothing but white as the winds fury continued. But he was protected in here. He was safe. The physical pain was gone.

The mental pain, though... that was something else. It was a hundred times worse than when Pitch snapped his staff. He would allow Aestive to attack him every day for the rest of his life if it would just end. All he wanted was for it to stop. All he wanted was to feel numb.

Even in the sanctuary that was his bubble he couldn't block out the sound of his breathing, harsh and ragged with pain and grief. It sounded so familiar, but it took Jack a moment to think where he'd heard it.

_And now, through the trees, there came a ragged breathing. Jack started at the sound, and began to head towards the shuddering sobs of a desperate man._

_Sobs wracked his body, and he suddenly let loose an earth shattering, stomach wrenching howl that seemed to rend the very sky in two._

_Jack watched as an ambulance staff took him away, still screaming._

He thought he knew now how that man felt. Everything good was gone, and now all he wanted was to feel nothing. To be numb. He regretted creating the noise. He regretted saving that man. He was thankful that there were no interfering winter spirits near him now. He was going to be numb.

Pointing his staff at his feet, he focused on that thought. The ice crystals crawled upwards, encasing his bare toes. Globes of ice clinked against the bottom and he realised he was crying again. How? How did he still have tears to cry? The ice reached his ankles, and began to slither up his thighs.

_I am going to be numb._

Frost patterns danced across the bubble, delicate and unique, achingly beautiful. Looking at them, Jack felt his heart break all over again_._

_I am going to be numb._

Stalactites formed at the top of the bubble, spikes sharp enough to kill. One hard bang with his staff could dislodge them, ending it more quickly. But that would bring back the physical pain. He didn't want that.

_I am going to be numb._

The wind hammered at the side of the bubble, sensing something was wrong. Its anger forgotten, now it was worried, desperately trying to reach in and make sure its long term companion was okay. Jack ignored it. He was not okay.

_I am going to be numb._

Perhaps he should leave a note. From what he knew, leaving notes was common in cases like this. But what would he say? They had caused this, there was no doubt, but he didn't blame them. He couldn't hate them. Jack felt his emotions shatter into a million diamond fragments.

_I am going to be numb._

Lifting up his staff, he paused the growth of the ice just to frost over the bubble. Jack knew it would be visible from the outside, written in protruding ice. _Thanks for the memories._ Jack liked it. It was all he needed to say. He returned to the ice that now encased his legs, inching up his waist.

_I am going to be numb._


	24. In the mirror

It hadn't been easy finding out what happened. Baby Tooth didn't speak yetish very well, and no one except her mother could understand the squeaks and chirps she and her sisters used to communicate. It didn't help that both parties were panicking. However, she eventually managed to find out what had happened.

She was_ furious._

How dare the guardians treat Jack like that? Jack, who strived so hard to please them. Who had spent hours carefully planning and creating the most beautiful gifts (she had seen them, lying on the workshop floor, and she _may just_ have read the letters). Who had been so happy to find a family.

She was also _heartbroken_.

Jack would believe himself alone again, and Baby Tooth didn't think he'd be able to bear that thought. She was worried about him doing something dangerous, or stupid, or both. Her biggest fear was that harm himself, but she also knew there would be one hell of a blizzard around him.

She snatched the necklace that had been meant for her mother (not that her mother deserved it after what she'd done) and slung it over her shoulder like a handbag, because it was far too big for her to wear as a necklace. Then she took a deep breath and flew out into the night to go and find her frost spirit.

* * *

"What is he doing?" asked North as they stared in horror at the mirror.

The mirror had come into focus just in time for them to see Jack crash land into a snow drift. According to Pitch he was somewhere in northern Canada. They watched him curl up and cry, and they were crying with him. They could see the scratches on his face from the ice in the blizzard. North had no doubt that meteorologists would be talking about this one for years to come.

After a while he stopped crying. At first, they thought he had recovered, that he was going to go to his lake and do his thing, the same thing he'd been doing for the three hundred years before he met them. Tooth was relieved that he had handled things so well.

Then he started screaming.

That had been unbearable. Bunny turned away, trying to block out the noise. Tooth's heat shattered into a thousand pieces, and then each piece shattered again as he kept on screaming. North stared in abject horror at the hurt they had caused the boy. Sandy wondered if he'd ever be able to create another good dream after hearing screams like that.

Now, though, Jack was back to crying. He was curled up at the bottom of a bubble with a diameter of about six feet, and crystals of ice were inching up his thighs.

"I believe," Pitch said slowly, revelling in the abundance of pain and fear that surrounded him. He paused, not entirely sure what the boy was doing. Then it occurred to him. "I believe he may be trying to freeze himself out of existence." There was a long silence as they took in the scene before them.

"Are you saying," sniffed Tooth, tears still running down her face, "that he's trying to commit suicide?" Pitch shrugged.

"I don't know for sure, but that appears to be the case. How kind of him: he's saving you from bothering to attack him." They glared at Pitch for a moment before turning away, subdued.

"Pitch," said Bunny after a long moment. "If you let the others go up there and stop him, you can keep me prisoner for as long as you want, do whatever you want to me, and I'll never try to escape." He was breathing heavily, choking out the words. "And the others will never try to save me. Just let them save him."

Pitch was surprised by this: from what he'd understood, the Pooka had always disliked Jack the most. He'd certainly been the most active on his attacks on the boy.

"But why would you give up your life for him? After all, Bunnymund, you're the one who tried to shoot him." Bunny could feel the others eyes on him, shocked. Bunny shuffled guiltily.

"Did Jack not tell you?" They shook their heads.

"I don't think he trusted us with anything by the end," whispered Tooth. "Why, Bunny? What happened?" She'd learned the hard way to never use the words 'what did you do?'

"After the prank thing... well, at first I convinced myself I was pranking him back. I put heating blankets in his bed, locked an angry raccoon in his room, all sorts. They weren't pranks, though, they were revenge. And it got way out of hand. I set up an air rifle in his room, aimed at his legs for when he opened the door. He must've dodged it, thank god."

"And you say I'm the evil one!" beamed Pitch. He hadn't known about that one. "I only inspire fear. I never hurt people _physically_." Sandy rolled his eyes at that one, and shot Pitch a very rude symbol. Pitch sighed. "We were at war then. We weren't... what were you pretending to be? Friends? Brothers?"

"We weren't pretending," growled North. "Jack is family."

"Now, are you going to take me up on my offer or not?" demanded Bunny. Pitch laughed.

"I would. But," he turned back to the mirror, smiling wickedly, "it appears to be too late." They stared in horror as the ice crystals covered the last of his face, sealing him inside.

* * *

_Sorry it's a short one guys, but my writers block is flaring up again! I know what I want to write, but I can't seem to get it down onto the page. If I can, I'll do another one later today to make up for this._


	25. Teaser

**This is a short, because I wanted to put it in somewhere and because I love watching you guys freak out. You're welcome.**

Jack's body lay encased in ice. He was motionless, staring up at the icicles as the last few crystals inched across his face. He wondered whether whoever found his body would be human or immortal. The humans would have a hard time puzzling this one out; a bubble, and within the bubble of cast of ice around... nothing. Invisible Jack Frost. Even in death.

He couldn't really breathe. Not properly. The ice surrounding him was too rigid. His breath came in shallow little gasps, and he was beginning to feel light headed. The ice crystals sliding across his cheek were cutting into his skin, making him wince.

The ice covered his nose and his mouth. Now he couldn't breathe, and his body was starting to panic. He began to struggle against his frozen tomb, but the ice encasing was too thick. His vision was already going black when the final few ice crystals locked together in front of his eyes.

For a moment, silence reigned. _Am I numb?_ Jack wondered to himself.

Then the ice crystals began to crawl into his lungs.


	26. Deals

Black curls of nightmare sand rose from the snow and wrapped themselves around the icy bubble. Curling tightly, they pulled down, and it followed as though the permafrost and the bedrock were nothing but warm putty.

Pitch was smiling as it sank down, and he turned back to his guests.

"So now the question stands: how immortal are we? One of you has already died but- as you can tell- that didn't prove to be too much of an obstacle. Tell me, Sanderson- do you think someone made of flesh and blood can pull the same party trick?"

Sandy glared at the monster before him, never having loathed anything so much in his entire life. As soon as they worked a way out of the shackles, Pitch would be re-examining his definition of the word 'pain.'

From the ceiling above them, tendrils of nightmare sand gently cradled the- what was it? A prison? A coffin? The guardians weren't sure, but it turned their blood to ice just to see it. They gently lowered it to the floor, and for the first time they got a good look at it.

The outside was completely covered in delicate hoarfrost. The words **Thanks for the memories **were written in shaky cursive. Inside they could just make out the shape of a figure, encased in ice. Pitch breathed deeply. Fear radiated from the guardians as they stared at the icy... he supposed it could be called a sarcophagus. They were afraid of what they would find in there.

But underneath that, faint and still fading, was another fear. Cool and crisp and absolutely rapturous. Jack's fear. The nightmare king smiled broadly: this was going to be good.

With a flick of his wrist gags appeared over the mouths of the other guardians, and they were dragged back into the shadows, where they could see everything. Pitch formed his signature scythe from nightmare sand and, with a delighted chuckle, smashed open Jack's icy prison. It shattered with a clear tinkle, the tiny shards scattering over the floor.

A loud gasp echoed through the chamber, followed immediately by another. Jack was on his knees, choking for air, his staff abandoned and forgotten by his side. Pitch quickly took the opportunity to snatch it away, but the winter spirit didn't even notice.

The other guardians shuddered in relief when they saw he was alive, tears of gratitude streaming down their faces. Their youngest guardian was alive. Everything else could be fixed, as long as he was alive.

As his coughs subsided, Jack glanced around. How long had he been in that bubble? He'd passed out in fear once he realized there was nothing to stop the ice that was sliding down his bronchiole. And what did Pitch want? He eyed the Nightmare King suspiciously.

"Hello Jack," said the latter gently. "Care to explain what you were doing trying to kill yourself?" The guardians flinched at the blasé tone, but Jack just scowled.

"No," he muttered. "I don't care to."

"What happened Jack? Did things get worse than those attacks you told me about?" The spirit snorted as the other guardians looked at each other with wide eyes. _He had told Pitch?_

"Yeah, you could say that."

"What happened to your face?"

"My... Oh, that was me. Blizzard that got out of hand." Jack looked around and his eyes narrowed. "Where's my staff?" Pitch held it up, smiling widely.

"Do you want it, Jack? Because I don't think I can let you have it." Jack shakily got to his feet and glared at the man opposite him.

"If there's a point to this conversation, get to it. Otherwise, I have some equatorial water to go drown in."

The bluntness of the boy's words surprised Pitch, though he didn't let it show on his face. Frost genuinely didn't seem to care anymore, but a bit of probing proved otherwise: the boy's worst fear may have come true, but that didn't mean he didn't have a new one.

"The point is that I'm going to attack the guardians at nightfall, and I don't want you getting in my way." Jack laughed humourlessly.

"I can't get in your way, remember? I go near any of them, especially when you're nearby, and I'll be attacked without questions. Also, you're an idiot if you think you can beat them."

"Even when they don't have you around? You're what saved them last time."

"Yeah, well, last time they were weak. They didn't have believers, they had to use me. Now, though, they've got more believers than ever, so you're a fool if you think you can win."

"But I haven't told you _how_ I'm going to attack."

"It doesn't matter how you attack, you're not going to win. Get that into your thick skull, idiot. You. Have. No. Chance." Bunny watched in amazement as, even after all they had put him through, Jack continued to defend them against Pitch.

"Do you know what a bomb is, Jack?" The boy froze, but Pitch didn't wait for a reply. "I'm sure you do, having lived through the blitz. Well, the Warren, the Tooth Palace, Santoff Clausen and Sandy's dream palace are covered with enough explosives to destroy all of London. I won't be anywhere near the places, but I'm sure your precious guardians will."

"No." It was barely a whisper, and for a second the guardians wondered if they had heard it all. Jack looked at Pitch, and they could see the anger that smouldered in his eyes. Pitch raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"No!" Jack yelled, and leapt forward. The Nightmare King was taken by surprise, and for a moment he floundered, before grabbing the boy by his jacket and throwing him to the floor with a sharp _crack_. The guardians winced at the sound. Pitch bent over the limp shape on the ground.

"If you care about them so badly, we could always make a deal." Jack looked up and his face contorted into an angry snarl.

"I don't make deals with you. Not anymore."

"Too bad," sighed Pitch. "Then again, I suppose with the way they've been treating you... but those mini-fairies never did anything wrong. Nor did the yetis. And the majority of the elves have always seemed nice enough, if ridiculously stupid. But if you're determined to let them go up in smoke, their lives torn from them before they even know what happened, then I-"

"What's the deal?" Pitch paused, and Jack rolled onto his knees, the picture of someone who knows when they're beaten. "What's your offer?"

"You stay here, become my personal slave and never attempt to leave. If the guardians come looking for you, you will hide until I have repelled them. In return, I will not blow up their homes, tonight or any other night."

"I'll never have to do anything that will hurt the other guardians, right?"

"Correct."

"Or the fairies or the elves?"

"If you insist. I feel I must warn you, there will be torture and a considerable number of beatings if you agree to this."

"I'll do it."

Pitch was proud of himself, he really was. He would have won no matter what the boy's answer was. If he had said no, he would have had the horror of the guardians knowing that the winter spirit was willing to let them die, and Jack's shame when he found out they knew. Since he said yes he had the guilt from the guardians over what they'd done, their pining sorrow for what the child had agreed to, and that weird achy heartbreak that moral people get when they know someone is suffering on their behalf. Also, he had himself a slave.

"Are you sure about this, Jack?"

"I said I'll do it!" Pitch stretched out his hand and the young guardian slowly shook it. "And you don't need to worry," the young guardian added. "They won't come looking for me."

* * *

_Hello my lovelies. No horrible cliffhangers for you this time, just a nice little chunk bit of depression mixed in with a good amount of angst. What's going to happen next, you wonder? What will Pitch do to Jack? Will the guardians escape? Where in the world is Baby Tooth?_

_These are questions that can only be answered by following and favouriting this story (okay, so you only need to follow it, but favouriting it is nice too). Also, to whoever asked, no, the book Jack gave to Pitch isn't real, although I'm sure there are plenty of books out there like it._


	27. Chapter 27

**Sorry for the short chapter, and the late update. My muse has eloped, and I'm having trouble writing today.**

* * *

A fearling appeared in the door and whinnied, catching the others attention. Jack looked in confusion at Pitch.

"I thought you said that you lost control over them." Pitch shrugged with a faint smirk.

"This nightmare will show you to your cell. I won't bother chaining you, because if you do run away, I'll blow up your precious guardians before you have a chance to send word. Understand?" The winter spirit scowled.

"I'm not you, Pitch: I don't break my promises." With that he turned and left the room. Pitch waited until he was well out of earshot before dragging the other guardians back into the light. Their faces were a mixture of horror and fury, and the Nightmare King laughed as he allowed the gags to dissolve away.

"I don't know if you've ever heard of a summer spirit called Aestive," spat Bunny angrily, "but you should go and find out what happened to him."

"If you touch one hair on Jack's head, I swear I will-" Tooth was snarling.

"You'll never see sunlight again, not if I have anything to do with it! What did you poison us with to make us treat Jack like that, hey? What did you-" Suddenly Pitch disappeared into the shadows, and they were left by themselves, still chained to the ground. Without someone to vent their ire on, their minds quickly returned to Jack. Tooth began to cry again, and North hugged her gently. Bunny's ears went flat onto his back while he stared at his feet, and Sandy looked around desolately.

"I can't believe he'd do that. After all we did to him," said the Pooka finally. "After all we said, after all we did, he'd still..." Tears started to leak gently into his fur. North sighed heavily.

"Jack is best of us all," he said.

"We have to save him," Tooth stammered out from between sobs. "We have to."

"How?" asked Bunny. "We can't even save ourselves."

Sandy had been listening to the conversation, but only partially. Most of his mind was focused on the task at hand, made far more difficult than it should have been due to the chains around his wrists. However, Sanderson Mansnoozie was nothing if not determined, and after a few minutes a small gold mouse ran off his arm and disappeared into the shadows. None of the other guardians even noticed.

* * *

Jack glanced around and sighed miserably. His cell was small, made from rough stone, with puddles of water collecting in the drips. There was no furniture, no windows, nothing but a rusted pile of chains in the corner. Unsurprisingly, it was also dark. He had never mentioned this to anyone, but he hated the dark, and he feared it too.

Was it possible for this day to get any worse?

"I didn't know you were afraid of the dark," purred a voice from behind him. Jack clenched his teeth: of course it could.

"I don't make it a habit of telling the man obsessed with fear what I'm afraid of," he replied without turning around. Something hit him hard in the back of the head, and he staggered forward with a surprised grunt of pain. He turned to see that Pitch's expression had twisted into a glare.

"I won't tolerate backtalk," he hissed. Grabbing the back of Jack's hoodie he slammed the child into the wall. "Attempted escapes will be dealt with severely." For the second time that day, Jack was thrown to the floor with a sickening crack. "Refusal to follow commands will also receive punishment." A heavy boot kicked him in the ribs and Jack cried out in pain. "As will failure to complete tasks properly." The boot kicked again and again as Jack curled in on himself, trying not to whimper. "Any defiance, including trying to escape beatings, will get you whipped." A hand grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him up so that they were eye to eye. "And any form of fraternising with anyone who is not me will get you beaten to within an inch of your life." The Nightmare King laughed, dropping the boy and straightening up. "And I may kill a few of those little tooth fairies too."

The fear given off was delicious, and Pitch couldn't resist one more kick, this time to the boy's head. The smaller immortal lay curled up on the floor, lips pressed tight together and frozen orbs of ice rolling from his eyes. Perhaps one more thing...

Jack couldn't suppress his yell as he was thrown across the room, his body slamming into a wall and sliding down onto the floor below. Pain clouded his mind, and for a moment he looked stared up at Pitch in horror and fear before everything went black.

* * *

Baby Tooth had been searching desperately, with no idea where to start, when the North Wind came and found her. Though she couldn't understand it in the way Jack could, she manage to grasp that it wanted to take her to Jack. Flying as fast as she could, she had raced to northern Canada, just to see a bubble of ice with the silhouette of a body inside it get dragged into the ground by the nightmare sand.

Now she found herself trying to understand what a mute golden mouse was trying to say. She chirped at it desperately, both of them getting more and more frustrated, until the mouse explode in her face. She only had a moment to register what had happened before she collapsed sideways, falling into a deep sleep.

In her dream, she was in Pitch's lair. The bubble that had contained Jack was there as well as the guardians. She watched the scene unfold in horror, anger rising for her icy friend. When Pitch proposed the deal her tiny frame rocked in horror. Jack accepted, and she held back tears.

That was the end of the dream she'd been sent. As she sat up, Baby Tooth thought about what she had just seen; Sandy must have had a reason to show it to her. Suddenly she realised, and a vengeful smile crawled over her feathery face.

_If the guardians come looking for you, you will hide until I've repelled them._

Baby Tooth was no guardian.


	28. Rescue

Jack blinked open his eyes. Every inch of him hurt. He had regained consciousness several times during the beating only for him to have it slip away again within minutes. Wincing as he sat up, he gave himself a quick once-over. Dark bruises were blooming across most of his skin, there was dried blood in his hair and it felt like several ribs were fractioned. For a moment he tried to remember what had been done to him, before deciding he was happier not knowing.

"Jack!" shouted a voice. It was Pitch. The winter spirit groaned as he remembered the deal he had made... yesterday? Last night? This morning? He had no sense of time in this lair of eternal darkness. He pulled himself to his feet and hobbled down to the main room, where Pitch was waiting.

The other guardians, watching from their shadows, were horrified when they saw their youngest member. They knew it had been done for them- Pitch had no reason to beat Jack except to show him off afterwards. If he was merely after fear then he could have sent the child nightmares and been done with it.

"You shouted?" A bit of Jack's old smirk was there, and Pitch had to suppress a smile. So, the boy was putting on a brave front. How noble. It would be destroyed soon enough, but nevertheless. Pitch could appreciate the child's resolve.

"My garden is in a bit of a state; I need you to weed it." Jack paused.

"The garden with the carnivorous plants?"

"Yes."

"Fed on the corpses of the underworld?"

"Yes."

"Over half of which solely eat human flesh?"

"Yes."

"Okay then."

"Good."

"One question;"

"What?"

"How am I supposed to know which plants are weeds if they're all trying to eat me?"

"I suppose you'll just have to work it out."

"Okay then." Jack turned to leave.

"Oh, Jack: one more thing before you go."

"Yes?" Pitch lunged forward and slammed Jack into the floor, a resounding crack echoing through the room as his head the floor. The guardians struggled at their chains uselessly, mouths once again gagged. They looked on in horror as for a moment, Jack didn't move. Then, with a groan, he sat up, before climbing shakily to his feet.

"Should I go now?" he asked, trying to keep his voice nonchalant. Pitch nodded, and once again the boy turned to leave though.

However, he hadn't taken a step when a distant noise made everyone pause. Pitch glanced up suspiciously while Jack glanced around in confusion, unsure if such noises were common in this realm.

Suddenly an elf fell from above, and landed with a loud _splat_ in the middle of the room. They stared at it, dumbfounded. It smiled mischievously and pulled a small bugle out of a pocket, which it proceeded to toot loudly.

"What's going on?" asked Jack, but before Pitch could answer dozens of yetis dropped from the sky, followed by egg golems with their angry faces turned towards Pitch. Then came wave after wave of elves, each carried by three armed and very dangerous little fairies, before the North wind swept through and greeted its old companion.

"Nightmares!" shrieked Pitch, his eyes blazing with fury. "Get them!" Fearlings appeared out of the darkness, but they were no match for the mace wielding yetis. Elves armed with steel frying pans and their own stupidity ran gleefully through the battle, whacking ankles indiscriminately. Pitch disappeared under a sea of furious fairies, enraged at the kidnap and capture of their mother, and Jack laughed happily. A yell from one of the yetis caught the sprit's attention, and he looked up in time to catch his staff. He gleefully began freezing fearlings and, even better, returning them to their original golden hue. Some of this dream sand floated to the shadowy edges of the room, illuminating the trapped guardians. Jack's eyes widened, and he walked forward slowly.

"It's okay," he said, his voice low. "I'm going to get you out and then I'll stay away. Please just..." his voice caught, his throat thick with emotion. "Please just don't attack me. At least not now. Do what you want later, but we need to get out of here first." With that he froze the chains shackling them, before smashing through them with his staff. The moment she was free, Tooth ripped off her gag and grabbed Jack. He stiffened at first, but she pulled him into a giant bear hug and he relaxed against her, tears of happiness welling in his eyes.

"Jack," said North gently. "We are so sorry. Can you ever forgive us?"

"Pitch poisoned us, mate. We didn't know what we were doing!" Sandy nodded, his golden eyes pleading for forgiveness, fearing rebuttal. A large grin broke out across Jack's face.

"Of course I can," he whispered. "You're my family." North pulled them all into a massive hug, which quickly broke apart again when they saw Jack wince and clutch his ribs.

"Let's get you to the medi-yetis," smiled Tooth.

The battle was over. The elves, yetis, fairies and golems had decimated Pitch's army, and the few remaining nightmares fled. The fearlings hadn't had a chance, outnumbered as they were, with no protection against the elves' wild abandon. A few yetis were hobbling on sore ankles, but apart from that everyone seemed to be unscathed.

Except for Pitch.

"FROST!" he roared. Every exposed inch of him was covered in pinprick wounds, some of which were bleeding. He looked angry and dishevelled, though not too badly injured. The worst he had received was a roundhouse kick from a very angry Phil, on whom the potion had finally worn off.

"Yes?" asked Jack, smirking at the sight of his captor.

"Remember our deal," hissed Pitch. "You may not leave." At that moment, one of the fairies zoomed to Jack, hugging his neck tightly, so relieved was she that he was okay.

"I do remember our deal," Jack told him calmly. "I had to hide from rescue from the guardians. You said nothing about rescue from Baby Tooth." Ignoring Pitch's shrieks of rage and his roared profanities, Jack climbed onto the golden cloud Sandy had conjured and sat with his family as they flew towards the surface.

* * *

_After all that I've put you guys through, I though a nice fluffy rescue would be appreciated :)_

_Oh God, the next chapter's probably going to be the last one! :( Thank you to everyone who's been reading this, and what do you think of me doing a series of drabbles based around RotG? (I will be taking requests)_


	29. Conclusion

Jack sleepily blinked open his eyes. Sunlight was streaming in through the open window, lighting up the winter room. Six days had passed, and still no nightmares. He smiled to himself: they probably wouldn't be coming back.

He pulled on his clothes slowly, careful not to jostle his broken ribs. He healed faster than humans, but it would still be a while before they were completely okay. Apart from that, though, he was fine; the bruises were mostly faded and he hadn't sustained any other injuries.

Once he was dressed, Jack opened the door and hurried through the hallways. Elves kept running out of nowhere and hugging his ankles, smiling up at him apologetically. It didn't matter how many times he told everyone he forgave them: he knew they would keep apologising for a long time. If Jack had been someone like Pitch, he could have used it to his advantage. He wasn't, though, and he just felt awkward.

"Morning Phil," he grinned, striding in. The yeti smiled at him sheepishly, trying to stifle a yawn. Morning indeed! It was quarter to six! Normally the yetis got a month off after Christmas in which they could rest and recuperate, but Phil was determined to make things up to the winter spirit in any way possible. "Are we ready to start?"

New Years Eve was generally a quiet get together for the guardians, where they could catch up, plan for the year ahead, and basically just relax before Easter got underway. However, this year they'd decided to make it a late gift giving, since Christmas day had been such a terrible disaster.

Now, as the old clock chimed eight and there was still no sign of Jack, they were starting to get anxious.

"What if he doesn't come?" fretted Tooth. "What if he decides he is still mad at us? What if-"

"Calm down," growled Bunny, "you're making me nervous. The kid's probably still asleep." Sandy shook his head. "Okay then, he's probably gone for an early morning fly, to send some snow to Alaska or wherever. He'll be here soon enough." As he said this the door swung open. In strode Phil, followed by Jack. The guardians could immediately tell he was worried, and they did their best to smile reassuringly.

"Jack!" boomed North. "Come in, sit down! Elves have just brought hot chocolate!" Jack shot a jet of frost at one of the mugs before picking it up, sipping at the now icy liquid. He sat down in the last free armchair and looked around nervously.

A large Christmas tree twinkled in the corner. Underneath it was a pile of brightly wrapped gifts of all different shapes and sizes. In the hearth a fire blazed merrily, and a group of elves scampered in bearing a platter of cookies. On catching sight of Jack they dropped the cookies and leaped onto him for a snuggle. The winter spirit patted them awkwardly as Tooth sighed adoringly and Bunny tried to keep from sniggering.

"Should we begin with the presents?" asked North, and everyone nodded.

"Me first!" squealed Tooth, diving into the pile and pulling out her gift from Bunny. Inside was a googie, painted with the teeth of different animals. Tooth smiled happily, and gave Bunny a hug.

Sandy got Bunny magic seeds for the warren that would grow into ever-blooming flowers. North gave Sandy an art book and a fedora. Tooth gave North a new set of carving tools. Phil and the entire security team were given walkie-talkies.

"By the way, mate, we decided to give the elves a little something this year as well," said Bunny with a grin. Tooth, Jack and Sandy were sniggering while North froze.

"It is not sugar, is it?"

"Oh no," said Bunny innocently as Tooth fell out of her armchair. "It's just something small that we whipped up." The door once again swung open, revealing every elf in Santoff Clausen. They were all grinning broadly, and each one clutched a maraca in one hand and a cowbell in the other.

"Oh, no," groaned North as they darted off, the sounds of their new toys filling the workshop. "I will have revenge for this one, I can promise it. Actually, Tooth, we may have given fairies Christmas gift as well." Tooth paused mid-chuckle, eyeing her friends suspiciously.

"If there is candy involved, it had better be sugar free," she warned them. They just shrugged, doing their best to look innocent. Before any more could be said, though, Baby Tooth floated in, yawning sleepily. Jack grinned and leapt to his feet when he saw her, and she flew up and snuggled against his cheek

"I know I already got you something," said Jack, walking over to a domed dish that they realised Phil had been carrying when he came in. "But I wanted to say thanks. If it wasn't for you, who knows how long we'd have been down there!" He pulled the lid off the dish, and Baby Tooth gasped.

On the platter was a large cake that had taken Jack and Phil the better part of two hours to make. It was cut out in the shape of her head and iced so it looked like her face was grinning up at them. Sweets dotted the edge in decoration, and Jack laughed as she started chattering excitedly. Tooth opened her mouth to ask about the sugar, but decided against it: what harm could one cake do?

"You can share it with your sisters," he smiled, "Because they all helped as well. Except for the ones that were bullying you; they don't get any."

"Bullying?" asked Tooth. "Is that why you've been staying with Jack?" Baby Tooth nodded sadly, and Tooth's lips set in an angry line. "We'll talk about this later." For a moment, silence reigned.

"Hey, Jack! You gonna open any presents or am I just gonna sit here getting old?" Jack laughed, and the moment was gone.

"You're already old, you kangaroo! All your fur has gone grey!" He had to duck to avoid being hit in the head by a flying present. "Hey!"

"Open it, you big lump!" Inside was a pair of tie-dye pyjamas and a matching nightcap. Jack laughed again, pulling the cap onto his head.

"How does it look?" he grinned, and they grinned back.

"It suits you!" beamed Tooth.

"Open mine now!" demanded North, and Jack pulled the gift towards him. Inside was a blue Matryoshka doll. The winter spirit looked at it for a second, before realising it was him.

"Okay, so to start with I'm..."

"Annoying?" suggest Bunny, dodging the elf that Jack threw at him.

"Mischievous," corrected North. "Then annoying."

"Hey!"

"Then kind, and caring, gentle, independent, brave and finally..."

"Fun," whispered Jack, looking at the little doll cupped in his hand. He leapt to his feet and gave North a massive hug, ignoring the twinges of pain in his ribs. North hugged him back, smiling down with genuine care for the child.

"My turn!" Grinned Tooth. She handed Jack an emerald present with a golden bow. "Well, our turn: Sandy and I worked together on it." Sandy beamed and nodded happily as Jack unwrapped it carefully. Inside were five small teeth, made out of glowing dream sand.

"Uh, thanks," he said, looking bemused. Tooth laughed.

"They've got our memories in them," she explained. "If Pitch ever tries anything like this again, we can activate the memories. Baby Tooth is going to hide them somewhere we won't find them, and she'll be in charge of them. It's to stop anything like this ever happening again." Jack blinked back tears, managing a watery smile. Tooth and Sandy flew forward and gently hugged him before everyone settled back into their armchairs.

"Thank you," Jack told them, and they smiled back.

"And thank you," said North. "Your gifts were beautiful, and we should have had a chance to tell you at the time."

"We're so sorry," murmured Tooth. Jack shifted uncomfortably.

"Guys, I've already told you. It's fine. Don't worry about it." Bunny snorted.

"After what we did to you, do you really think we could do anything but worry about it?" Jack grinned at the Pooka.

"Aw. You do care." They were saved an argument by Sandy, who snatched a cowbell from one of the elves and shook it hard. They all looked at him and he pointed urgently at the clock.

"Oh, yes!" cried North, leaping to his feet. "Everyone, follow me!" Bunny, Tooth and Sandy knew what was coming, but Jack was left to follow behind and wonder what was going on. His curiosity was piqued as they emerged from a trapdoor onto the roof.

"Five," muttered North, eyeing his watch. "Four, three, two, ONE!"

"HAPPY NEW YEAR!" screamed the guardians as fireworks shot into the air. Jack laughed and beamed up as explosion after explosion lit up the sky. Tooth hugged him again, North wrapped an arm around his shoulder, Sand hugged his knees and even Bunny ruffled his hair. They watched the fireworks in silence, and Jack didn't think he'd ever felt that happy.

* * *

After New Years, things slowly returned to normal.

Phil was nervous and on edge most of the time, until he discovered an 'omni-antidote' in an old alchemy book he'd borrowed from North's personal library. Once a month he insisted everyone line up, be them guardian, elf, yeti or fairy, while he used a squeegee bottle to douse them.

Tooth had insisted that the fairies who had bullied Baby Tooth clean the entirety of the Tooth Palace before they were allowed back in her good books. Jack found out about this, and snuck down with some elves the night before, coating almost every surface with large amounts of dye from Bunny's personal river. Tooth turned a blind eye while the offending fairies were left to scrub it off.

Pitch awoke one morning to find ice and frost covering every surface, alarm clocks set to go off at random intervals in every corner, precariously balanced buckets of water on nearly every door, egg bombs under every rug and his nightmares dressed in princess costumes. He had no doubts as to who he should blame.

Jack was still broken in many ways, and he accepted this. He still hurt from three hundred years of isolation, and the most recent events. But he knew he would heal, and he knew that the others would help get him through.

That's what family is for.

* * *

_It's over! :'( _

_Thank you so much to everyone who has read this and to all of you who have reviewed! It means a lot to me, and I really enjoyed doing this. I figured that after what I put you through you deserved a fluffy ending; sorry if it was too cheesy!_

_I think I will do a short drabbles thing, though with school coming up it will be updated far less frequently. If anyone has any requests, message me or tell me in a review._

_I love you all! Thanks again for reading!_


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